Tracy Weber Books In Order

Publication Order of Downward Dog Mystery Books

Tracy Weber is an American author of mystery novels. She finds that writing can be a good expression of the things that she loves most in life– murder mysteries, yoga, and of course, dogs. Weber is a certified yoga instructor and is also the founder of an award-winning yoga studio in Seattle, Washington, called Whole Life Yoga.

Weber enjoys sharing her passion for yoga and animals in every possible way. She lives with her husband and her German Shephard Tasha and cat Maggie. She spends a lot of time writing and when she is not writing, she is teaching yoga, walking her dog, or drinking some Blackthorn cider at her favorite ale house in town.

She is a member of a number of groups, including The Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, and the Dog Writers Association of America. She is the author of the Downward Dog Mystery series. There are five books in this series, the first being titled Murder Strikes a Pose, published in 2014, which won her a nomination for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Murder Strikes a Pose is the first novel in the Downward Dog Mystery series. It stars Kate Davidson, a woman who works as a yoga instructor in the great city of Seattle. Although she teaches in such a zen field, Kate is more like a fighting rooster than a monk of the order. When she is not busy teaching yoga to students in the studio, she has more than enough to deal with on her plate in her personal life.

Kate spends a lot of time avoiding the attempts of her best friend to set her up with random guys. She also spends a fair amount of time avoiding her landlord, who is creepy and just better off not encountered. Her father was a cop, but when it comes to Kate, she’s not exactly willing to follow in the detective and crime-fighting arena. She already has enough to deal with keeping her studio open and the business going, so she’s not exactly trying to take up a new hobby.

Kate is busy enough trying to fit into what she feels is the impossible expectations of yoga to be zen at all costs. But that journey into enlightenment is interrupted when she trips over a body that is just lying in the parking lot of her studio. It’s a troubling situation, but when the police are called to the scene, they simply dismiss it as a street crime that was related to drugs.

However, Kate suspects something else. She knew the victim personally– his name was George, and he was homeless and an alcoholic but no drug user or dealer. Kate knows this for sure, but the police aren’t interested in hearing her out on the case. To them, it’s just another crime on the streets. Kate decides that if the police aren’t going to investigate the murder then she’ll just have to figure it out herself.

Kate is determined to get justice for George, and if she can prove that someone else killed him, the bad press of having a drug deal gone bad outside of her studio will hopefully dissipate. With all of her work to keep the business running, Kate doesn’t need any more bad press. So she channels her inner detective and takes on the task of finding out who killed George and if anyone wants to take on his large German Shepherd, affectionately named Bella, as a pet. This second task is particularly important because if no one takes Bella into their home then Animal Control will effectively put her down, and she is a sweet dog that could really use a new family to love.

Kate is determined to find who did this, and time is running out for Bella. Kate will have to work diligently in order to find the murderer. Who is to say that the killer will not come back and strike again? She must figure out who did this and put the pieces together before the next victim is one of her students or herself. If she doesn’t, then the next pose they may be doing is the Corpse pose. Kate must race against time to figure out who the killer is. To find out the ending, pick up Murder Strikes a Pose and read it for yourself!

The second novel in the Downward Dog mystery series is Killer Retreat, published in 2015. Yoga instructor Kate is back again, having come off the horrible murder of her friend George. In this sequel to the first book, Kate must work to clear her name. That’s because she’s been accused of murder; not exactly an ideal situation.

When Kate gets an appealing offer to take on new students at an exclusive resort, she is excited. If she takes the job, she will be teaching yoga to guests of weddings at the luxurious resort, Elysian Springs. Kate decides to take the exciting opportunity, even if it means that she will have to go through the wedding ceremony of the two caretakers of the center.

It turns out that weddings and other people getting married is the least of her problems. When a wedding guest is discovered drowned in the hot tub of the resort, suspicion runs high. Unfortunately for Kate, she had just had a very public and very loud argument with the guest who turns up dead. Is it an accident, or is it murder? Now because she had that public quarrel, Kate is the number one suspect on the police’s list.

If she doesn’t work to clear her name, Kate may very well be accused of the murder. She turns to her best friend Rene, her boyfriend Michael, and her German Shepherd to help her crack the case. With Bella’s sharp nose on the scene and the power of her two friends supporting her, Kate will have to race against the clock to find out who murdered the guest before she is arrested– and potentially sent to jail for a crime she never committed. Pick up Killer Retreat and see if Bella and her friends can solve the crime before she is put away for good.