Dead Man’s Pose

Dead Man’s Pose is the first book in the Yoga Mat Mysteries series by Susan Rogers and John Roosen. I found this book to be right up my alley with yoga and a mystery all in one book. Elaina Williams is a yoga instructor at Yoga Boronia in Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia. One morning, as Elaina is about to start an outside class, one of her students, Mario, comes up to her with what seems to be something important. She lets him know class is about to start and asks if they can have coffee afterward to talk. Sadly, Mario and Elaina never get to their coffee because Mario passes away while in Shavasana (Dead Man’s Pose). The police are called in, but the whole thing leaves Elaina uneasy and without closure. One of her other students, Ric Peters, helps Elaina and walks her home. They find her apartment has been ransacked. Even more on edge at this point, Elaina decides she needs to find out if Mario’s death was an accident or a homicide. With Ric’s help, both she and Ric do some detective work, meeting many different characters along the way, to find out what Mario could have been caught up in.

I loved everything about this book. The main characters, Elaina and Ric, complement one another perfectly, and I could see a possible romance in the future for these two. They work so well together. The other characters are just as colorful, including Alfred, the magazine-spinning man on the corner, and Jack, the police officer who seems to always be at Ric’s disposal. Ric sure did seem to know many people, and it made me wonder what it was in his past that allowed him to make these connections. I also really enjoyed the amount of detail in the book. The authors described everything from the wainscotting to the delectable food in NSW with such precision that I felt as if I were standing right there in the middle of Cooper Street with Ric and Elaina. Speaking of food, if you’re a foodie as I am, this is also the perfect book for you. Many of the scenes included eating and made me hungry! I stopped to search if an Emperor’s Puff actually existed and low and behold, Sydney, Australia is famous for them! Ric and Elaina also find themselves involved in some action with the “bad guys” in the book. There is a boat chase and several thugs they encounter along the way.

If you are a fan of mystery, action, suspense, and of course, yoga and food, this is the book for you. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.