Title Dead Man's Pose: Yoga Mat Mysteries (Mystery, suspense, romance and adventure (Yoga Mat Mysteries series, Book 1))
Author Susan Rogers and John Roosen
Genre Cozy Crime, Cozy Mystery, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: G-EMS PTY LTD and PS LLC
Book Blurb
Dead Man’s Pose is a tension-reliever in yoga. Not this time!
The relaxation goes further than expected. One of Elaina Williams’s yoga students dies in her class. Was the victim helped into Dead Man’s Pose? Behind the scenes, there’s a coverup threatening to unravel Elaina’s tranquil life. It turns out her favourite student was targeted and that strikes at her very core. What was the message that Mario so desperately wanted to give her? Elaina needs to know what’s happening. But there are no easy answers.
She teams up with Ric, a mysterious dark-horse, and they navigate the back streets, landmarks and sleazy haunts of Sydney, Australia. From a darkened saloon to a starlit casino, Elaina and Ric’s trail tumbles into a gummy web of intrigue. It’s a city life they thought they knew. Instead, Sydney is hiding pockets of controversial history and a basketful of crime, chaos and quirky characters.
Using unconventional crime-solving methods and coffee-fuelled discoveries, Elaina and Ric reveal that corruption runs deep. But their attraction to each other runs even deeper. Things start ‘hotting up’. As each moment becomes more perilous, Elaina must overcome her fears. If she continues, she risks being the next victim. The stakes are high. With several close calls and the body count racking up, will Elaina and Ric resolve this mystery before time runs out?
Dead Man’s Pose is presented in a stylish noir mystery wrapper. It arrives with doses of romance, laugh-out-loud humour and suspense tucked into shadowy corners. But the layers that make a celebration of what is Australia don’t always end with ‘she’ll be right’.
✓ Your Dead Man’s Pose eBook is just a click away. Hungry for more? Dead Man’s Pose is first in the Yoga Mat Mysteries’ line-up. Next will be Cobra Pose – coming soon!
Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsd8ItBx6gw
Award:
The book cover for Dead Man's Pose was selected as a 'Silver' Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for the Best Cover Design (Fiction). This is the largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers in the world.
Excerpt
Shavasana – Dead Man’s Pose
Early morning light was slinking around the buildings of Surry Hills. Elaina Williams stood on her yoga mat, hands relaxed along her sides, eyes closed, concentrating on the stillness and sound of her breathing. Finding inner peace and teaching the mind to be totally calm instead of ‘always doing’ was still a work in progress. Her class had spread their mats around her, distributing the red, purple, orange and blue patches of colour across the dewy grass. The mats resembled bright splotches of material resting on a green wallaby-grass quilt on a narrow parkway at the dead end of Cooper Street, Surry Hills.
A familiar voice came from over her shoulder. ‘I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it today,’ Mario Vincente said, huffing a bit as he walked up to her mat. ‘May I talk with you a moment, Elaina?’
She opened her eyes. Mario was short, a little portly, with hair that was evaporating from its current location. ‘It’s important,’ he added, his brown eyes widening and his brow slightly furrowed.
‘Morning, Mario,’ Elaina said. She often had a few words with students at Yoga Boronia before a session began. Mario had been a student of hers for over ten months. Previously, he’d rarely ventured outside his accounting office for any type of exercise or even contemplation of anything but numbers. She had admired his determination and dedication to progress in the yoga poses.
She glanced at the worn watch strapped on her wrist. ‘Let me treat you to a coffee right after this session, Mario. We’re almost ready to begin.’
He seemed anchored to the ground next to her purple mat like a ship in dry-dock unable to return to sea. He hesitated and appeared ready to blurt something out, but then he stopped. ‘Si, un caffè, coffee would be good,’ Mario murmured.
~~~
It happened in every class. There was always one or two lost to a deeper sleep. Most of the participants got up and used the mat-cleaning time as a transition to get ready for the reality that was a bustling Sydney day ahead. A few lingered, trying to maintain the feelings of aliveness generated by the class, but knowing a return to reality was perhaps a train or a bus ride away.
Elaina did the rounds of the two figures still in repose. She put her hand softly on the shoulder of the woman lying peacefully. ‘Chloe, how are you? Class is ending. It’s time to come back to the surface.’
Chloe’s eyes fluttered like a fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty arising from a long sleep. She stretched her left hand out and rolled to her right side.
Elaina turned towards the remaining figure. ‘Mario. It’s time to come back. Take a deep breath. In your own time, stretch and roll to your right side.’
Mario didn’t move. Elaina laid her hand on his still body.
‘Mario. It’s time to wake up.’ She knelt down to his left side and gently shook his shoulder, then touched the side of his head. He didn’t stir. There was something funny about his colouring. It wasn’t a normal colour. And where was his breath? He wasn’t deep-breathing. He wasn’t even shallow-breathing. She leaned close to his nose, listening. His ‘tidal breathing’ seemed to have ebbed away. His breath was out to sea for good. She needed to act. Fast. She assessed Mario’s condition and she was worried.
She turned quickly to the two people closest to the exterior door.
‘Help! Clare! Josh! Get to a phone! Call triple zero!’ One of her staff, Trishell, had just opened the door to the side of the studio. Clare and Josh looked over towards Elaina. Then together they pushed through the doorway, with Trishell following them back in.
Elaina, still on her knees beside Mario, rapidly tried to find a pulse. There was none. Her initial concern flashed to anxiety. She felt hyperaware. Her head was pounding. She began resuscitation, using thirty compressions followed by two mouth-to-mouth breaths. Counting. Counting. Still no response.
‘Mario! Mario! Wake Up!’ She squeezed his thumbnail trying to get him to wake up.
Ric was rolling up his mat. His head snapped when he heard Elaina yell for help. He rushed over and dropped to his knees next to Elaina, taking over the compressions, pumping rhythmically on Mario’s chest. Press. Release. Press. Release. While he worked on Mario’s chest, he counted out loud to thirty.
‘Come on, Mario, breathe! Damn it! Breathe!’ Ric’s voice was commanding.
In sequence, Elaina moved towards Mario’s head, covered his mouth with hers and, pinching his nose, blew in two breaths. Thirty … two. Thirty … two. It was like a percussion duet. But they never achieved a trio. After six sets Mario was still not breathing and there was no pulse. Elaina was desperate. She was panicked that her actions weren’t making an impact.
Mario’s body was pale and cold. Ric knew he was pumping the heart of a corpse. But he did not stop. Mario was not coming back to the yoga class.
~~~
The paramedics arrived with their ‘take charge and take over’ hustle. The futile effort continued. Ric and Elaina stood by. A police patrol-car siren was heard in the distance, its wail becoming more insistent.
Ric, ever the photojournalist, got his phone from his backpack and discreetly took a few images of Mario lying on his mat. Legs outstretched. One fist clenched as if in defiance. After the initial quick assessment and attempts at resuscitation, a gurney was brought over.
The paramedics put Mario on oxygen, following a checklist of hospital procedures in a repeatedly practised triage technique. There was no pulse, no respiration, no blood pressure, the cardiac monitor was flatlined. The man was dead and the oxygen was going nowhere.
~~~
Mario left this world much as he had entered it. Born at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, naked, he had now been delivered back to his creator via the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, once again naked. There was a certain symmetry to it.
Mario’s death was inconvenient, and not only to Mario.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Amazon US
Key additional Amazon
Australia
United Kingdom
Canada
(Also Available with Amazon in: France, Italy, The Netherlands, India)
Books2Read (various sites)
Booktopia (This is a popular Australian site)
Goodreads
BookBub
Author Biography:
What do a woman, who used to train military personnel how to shoot straight, and a man, skilled at eradicating all sorts of hazardous materials safely, have in common? Besides both being designated law enforcement officers, they have now written a ‘knock ‘em dead’ book … together.
John Roosen started his career as a biologist, served as a naval officer and environmental emergency specialist in the United States, and has lived and worked in Australasia, Antarctica and the Middle East. At a moment’s notice, he would respond to chemical and refinery plant explosions, deal with rocket fuel plant meltdowns and dismantle illegal drug labs. As a changeup, John switched careers to chasing pirates and duelling with a con artist extraordinaire on a remote South Pacific island. In between, he organised jungle expeditions and deep-sea scuba diving. However, John’s experience extends beyond responding to cataclysmic disasters and includes mastering the intricacies of making soufflé omelettes without burning the edges.
Susan Rogers already knew she was a writer at age six, but as an adult she took a major detour in becoming a commissioned naval officer. She has conducted sting operations, run extensive weapons training programs and directed the restoration of a Presidential yacht. In between, she has written several books, run health and safety operations for multi-billion-dollar projects in Abu Dhabi and revamped a South Pacific maritime service. Susan continues to write: whether braced against the hull of a sailing vessel on a hard tack, during a crossing of the Middle East’s empty quarter in a Mini, or bouncing around in a troop carrier in Australia’s outback.
Hungry for more? Dead Man’s Pose is first in the Yoga Mat Mysteries’ line-up. Next will be Cobra Pose – coming soon!
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