Dead Man's Pose: Yoga Mat Mysteries by Susan Rogers and John Roosen
The title of Susan Rogers and John Roosen’s exciting new novel and audiobook, Dead Man’s Pose, refers to what is known in the yoga world as Shavasana. It is a pose meant to relieve tension, not to kill you. Hence as the novel opens, Yoga Boronia studio owner and instructor Elaina Williams is shocked to have a student in her yoga class die while performing Shavasana.
But mostly she is devastated because on the very day of his death, Mario Vincente — a short, pudgy man who had been her eager student for ten months — had come to class early asking for a minute of her time and she’d put him off. What had he wanted to say? What if she had taken the time to hear him out? Would he still be alive? Mario was “a man of precision and regularity. Socially, personally, even biologically, he functioned like clockwork.” Even with medical tests still pending, the idea that his death might be nefarious cannot be dismissed.
Murder Strikes and Threat Moves Closer
When she herself is personally targeted, Elaina feels even more compelled to solve this potential crime. She owes it to Mario and to herself. But she’s not alone. Ric Peters, another student in the class, has chatted with Mario a few times and finds it troubling to assume he would’ve succumbed to such mild exercise. And there is something so appealing about the oval-faced, strawberry-blonde yoga instructor that makes Ric want to help her.
When the New South Wales (NSW) police force starts its routine forensics to explore and explain Mario’s sudden death Ric and Elaina decide it won’t be enough. In stepping up the investigation beyond the tried and true they dig up a host of characters each quirkier than the last. There is Professor Scott at the University of Sydney, a man who is overly fond of spreading multicolored TackiNotes along his office walls, but whose advice they take to heart as in his mantra: “Don’t ever let logic get in the way of the options.”
Ric’s close friend Jack McMasters, detective inspector on NSW’s Homicide Squad, is one of those Aussie straight-shooters where “honest and blunt were the only two options that came from his mouth.” Jack is a big believer in outback intuition, especially Ric’s. And to cover all the bases Ric and Elaina question Broady, a homeless man who might’ve seen something since he sometimes sleeps in the lit-up area in front of Elaina’s studio “to check a watch he never wore.”
Ric and Elaina’s midnight jaunts along the grittier side of Sydney invoke a mood of a classic noir mystery, but the noir is tempered by the modesty of these two amateur sleuths, the quirky characters they dig up, and their blooming romance. Two hand-drawn maps preface the written story, adding a home-made quality and a sense of immediacy to the crime-solving.
And then there is the coffee, mentioned at least forty times in the two-hundred-page novel. In the stress of hunting down clues to Mario’s possible murder, Ric and Elaina start, punctuate and end most days with coffee, sometimes from the Rocket machine at Ric’s apartment and often via their search on the streets for that “perfect cup.”
An Engaging Listen with Laugh Out Loud Moments
Dead Man’s Pose is an engaging listen, with characters that make you laugh out loud and historical references inserted casually throughout the story—about the University of Sydney and how the NSW police force came to be in 1788 as a night watch with some of the convicts, inter alia—that make the town of Sydney and the continent of Australia come alive.
The tongue-in-cheek writing style enhances the book to no end. In one case, Ric and Elaina dig up a Dr. Franklin Moore — attending physician at a casino that might be connected to Mario’s murky past — and ask about his background. “Like a rocket, Moore launched into the condensed-milk version of his bio from birth to his current work. Somehow he managed to avoid his run-ins with ethics committees, the occasional suspension of his license and the bulging complaints files at past employments.”
And for a real down-under experience, you’ll want to listen to it. In the audio version, narrator Rupert Degas adds his native-sounding Australian accent to the mix, varying pitch and pace and carefully capturing the nuances of the diverse set of characters that populate this highly entertaining story.
About Susan Rogers:
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.
About John Roosen:
John Roosen started his career as a biologist, served as a naval officer, a designated law enforcement officer and environmental emergency specialist in the United States and pursued engineering and environmental related projects across the globe. He has lived and worked in Australasia, the South Pacific, Antarctica, the Americas 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. He lives and writes in Australia and New Zealand when he’s not bouncing around the world.
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Check out AudioFile’s coverage of Dead Man’s Pose on the Behind the Mic podcast.
