The Nautical Namaste Mysteries — Yoga, Murder, and Cruises!
A Contemporary, Comic, Romantic, Not-Quite-Cozy Series
Smart. Intelligent. Sexy. Funny. Compassionate. Ex-event planner/current yoga instructor Sophie Batchelder is all these things and doesn’t realize it, especially after her studio abruptly fires her and her fiancé dumps her for her nemesis. Accepting a job on a cruise ship when their yoga instructor dies during the cruise, Sophie embarks on a new chapter of self-discovery in every way, encompassing comedy, romance, and mystery. Discovering that her predecessor’s death was murder and not an accident sets her off to find out why.
The series of contemporary mysteries salutes the cozy while breaking ever-tightening formula, and takes Sophie around the world on the Diamond Charisma, a luxury cruise ship. Her relationship with ex-cop Sebastian Anger, now one of the ship’s engineers after his own life crisis, grows, along with friendships and rivalries among the different factions. Names, eyes, and living the path of yoga are important to Sophie, and, therefore, constantly challenged. Plot-wise, each book stands alone, while the emotional arcs of their relationship and character growth evolves from book-to-book.
The ship’s international ensemble of entertainers, restaurant personnel, hostesses, dancers, crew, staff, ship’s officers, a tarot reader, an illusionist, and recurring characters of a pair of top-of-the-line, fun-loving jewel thieves Stella and Bartholomew, evolve over the books, along with a changing cast of passengers. The short time frames and intense proximity provided by the ship provide a perfect platform for conflict and intrigue. The mix of personnel on a typical cruise ship, the hierarchy, the politics, and the bizarre passenger demands provide endless opportunities for both conflict and comedy.
The ship’s route changes from book to book (similar to a luxury cruise line using two ships on a multitude of international routes). Historical and other interesting trivia, and sensory details pertinent to exotic locales meld to plot and stories, adding local flavors to delight travelers both seasoned and armchair. Back matter includes travel tips, site suggestions, and fun facts/local legends when real locations are used in the book.
The setting, characters, situations, and immediacy of the story to the passengers’ experience make this an entirely unique concept.
The series begins post 9/11, but pre-pandemic.
I do not use AI to create my work.
The series is published by Bluestockings and Gentlemen Press.
You can follow each of the books in the series from concept through publication on the blog Ink in My Coffee, which deals with all the writing done under the Ava Dunne, Devon Ellington, and related by-lines. You can keep up with new releases, exclusive giveaways, and more by signing up for Devon’s Random Newsletter here. The newsletter comes out quarterly (so it doesn’t clutter your inbox).
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Book 1 — Savasana at Sea
