Tree Pose: Yoga Mat Mysteries (Mystery, suspense, romance and adventure (Yoga Mat Mysteries series))

Tree Pose is the third installment in John Roosen and Susan Rogers’ Yoga Mat Mystery series. After reading the first two books in the series, Dead Man’s Pose and Cobra Pose, I was hooked. Each mystery is laid out well and can be read as standalone novels, although I recommend reading them in chronological order to experience how the relationships between the characters become more intertwined and complex (in a good way) with time.

In Tree Pose, Ric, Elaina, Jack, Jay, and Priya take a trip to Tasmania for multiple reasons. They call it “The Yoga-Fishing-Photo trip. There is a yoga convention that Elaina will be speaking at. From there, Elaina and Priya will be doing yoga roadshows around Tasmania for the community. Jack will start his leg of the journey away from the others with a fishing trip. The others will join him shortly after. The group also plans on attending an Indian wedding for one of Priya’s friends while in Tasmania. And Jay, the filmmaker and Marine biologist, is ready to scope out the scenery in Tasmania for a marine project for National Geographic.

Several storylines intersect throughout this book, however, the writing is very straightforward and easy to follow. Ric’s past comes to haunt him and he finds himself being hunted by two men with different agendas. After a mission in Indonesia went wrong, Ric finds himself facing the repercussions. With a hired gun and a man who leaves threatening clues for Ric everywhere he goes, Ric starts to feel as if he is putting his friends in danger by being in Tasmania. Ric communicates to his security team back home what has been happening and they quickly get to work on who could be behind the threats.

One of my favorite parts of the series is the development of Ric and Elaina’s relationship. After attending one of her classes in Dead Man’s Pose, these two characters have moved their relationship forward slowly through each book. Ric holds back his feelings for Elaina because he doesn’t want her to get hurt by his secret past and Elaina is always wondering what is going on in Ric’s head.

There is action, adventure, and plenty of witty dialogue throughout this book. I recommend Tree Pose and the whole Yoga Mat series to anyone who loves an engaging, suspenseful mystery with beautiful scenery and spontaneous and fun characters.