Fatal Stretch

Book excerpt: An active vacation from a pleasant retirement? That's how Nick and Sarah pictured their friend Rita's yoga retreat on Maui—until a fellow-student suffers a cruel death while helpless in an extreme stretch, and Rita, accused of criminal negligence, suddenly becomes deeply withdrawn and…well, downright spooky! Back home on the casual coast of Northern California's Monterey Bay, the pace heats up quickly as Rita is attacked, Sarah feels compelled to help, and bizarre stories of a brutal act and deadly vengeance surface unexpectedly to complicate the equation. Trouble enough for an ex-teacher and a nurse, but throw in a wannabe hitman with a sexy girlfriend who's stoked on surfers and dreams of shooting documentary videos, a grief-crazed widower, a mysterious attorney, a greedy yogi, an opportunistic surfer, and a German Shepard, and you've got a nasty stew that's about to boil over into murderous action. Danger prowls Santa Cruz County and the quiet streets of Aptos, but before they can save Rita, they'll first have to answer the big one: How crazy is she?! And if yoga's so good for the body and surfing's so much fun, why are people dying? Why are Nick and Sarah so stressed-out? And why does this stuff keep happening to them?! Who says life's fair or retirement's easy?—No wimps allowed!