Tracy Weber is a yoga instructor who calls her debut mystery, “Murder Strikes a Pose,” a happily-ever-after, human-animal love story. Weber, who says she’s known as “the creepy puppy lady,” talked about the story behind the book. Congratulations to KarenM, who was the winner of a copy of “Murder Strikes a Pose.”
“A homeless lady used to hang out near the entrance to my neighborhood grocery store,” said Weber. “She always had a large Rottweiler mix in a crate next to her. Because she had a dog and I’m the creepy puppy lady, I often stopped to chat with her. One day, I asked her about the crate. She told me that the Rottweiler lunged at other dogs on the sidewalk. The crate—which she stored behind the building at night—allowed her to keep the dog with her, in spite of its reactivity.”
Weber, who has a German shepherd named Tasha, said, “Tasha has many expensive health conditions, one of which is an autoimmune condition called Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency. Tasha can’t digest food unless expensive medication is added to every meal. I’m grateful every day that I can afford to give her the medicine she needs to survive.”
“I started to wonder,” said Weber. “What if her dog had Tasha’s illness as well as its behavior issues? What would she do? What could she do? That’s when the story of George—a homeless alcoholic—and his crazy dog Bella formed in my head. I want to be clear: George is not that woman—not even close. But like her, he knows the joy and heartache that come from deep love for an imperfect creature.”
“Murder Strikes a Pose” touches on the issues of homelessness, alcoholism, grief, and animal rescue. With those serious issues as the backdrop, Weber set out to write her first novel. “My goal in writing the book was never to get on a pulpit and preach; it was to tell a light-hearted love story. Don’t get me wrong. Murder Strikes a Pose is a murder mystery, not a romance. Still, at its heart, my first book is a story about love.”
Weber added, “In the book—as in real life—love isn’t always easy. ‘Murder Strikes a Pose’ illustrates how love can damage us, if we let it. Throughout its pages, normally good people do extreme—some might say evil—acts to protect those they love. But beyond that, the story shows how love transforms us, when we are ready. In the end, it asserts that love saves us.”
As a first-time novelist, Weber said it took a couple of years from the time she had the idea for the story to when she actually began writing. “My biggest personal challenge was finding the fortitude to actually sit down and start writing. Once I overcame that barrier, I wrote the first draft in three weeks. To be completely honest, that first draft was awful. I spent almost a year fixing it.”
Weber is now writing regularly and even has a sequel due out in 2015. The book, titled “A Killer Retreat,” is set on Orcas Island, a small island off the Washington coast. Weber considers herself luck because she gets to write about what she loves.
“I’ve taught yoga since 2000 and I opened my own yoga studio in 2001. Dogs—particularly my own special-needs dog Tasha—are my passion, and I’ve loved reading mysteries since the Nancy Drew days of my youth. Combining the worlds of yoga, dogs, and mystery comes naturally to me. I wrap my funny dog incidents and yoga lessons up in a mystery and call it fiction.”
While Weber writes about subjects that are close to her, she tries to avoid writing about people she knows. She said, “It just seems mean somehow, since I will inevitably kill them off or make them a murder suspect. Unlike my protagonist, Kate, I have no cute pet store guy in my life; no sleazy landlord; I don’t even have a friend like Rene, though I’d certainly like to.”
“Murder Strikes a Pose” offers readers a chance to explore the world of yoga while reading a funny mystery. Weber said, “You don’t have to practice—or even have tried—yoga to connect with the book. ‘Murder Strikes a Pose’ is about friendship, loss, forgiving yourself, and finding love where you least expect it. Yoga is simply the backdrop.”
Anyone who has ever walked a dog on a regular basis knows that strange things can happen when you least expect it, and Weber is no exception. “My best ideas come to me when I’m walking Tasha—primarily because she gets us in such funny predicaments. I do research my books, but many of the specific dog situations are based on Tasha’s and my crazy shenanigans. Yoga, dogs, and murder. What could be more fun?”
More information
Tracy Weber is a certified yoga teacher and the founder of Whole Life Yoga, an award-winning yoga studio in Seattle. Learn more about Tracy Weber on her website at TracyWeberAuthor.com.
Yee haw! Congratulations, Karen! Terry, will you send me a mailing address for Karen or do I need to contact her?
Those of you who didn’t win, this url contains a list of places you can purchase the book including, of course, Amazon. If you purchase from Whole Life Yoga or Seattle Mystery Bookshop, I can autograph it for you. http://tracyweberauthor.com/buy.html Of you don’t want to purchase it, please consider requesting it from your local library. And in any case, let me know what you think if you read it. I love hearing from readers!
Congratulations to KarenM, who was the winner of a copy of “Murder Strikes a Pose”
I’m loving the cover. What a fun read this promises to be.
Thanks, Mary! I love the cover, too. Hope you find the book to be equally good!
This sounds fun
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
sorry to hear about Tasha 🙁 – so glad you keep her healthy
Thanks, Patricia. EPI has been relatively easy for us to manage. She has 4 bad legs and a bad back that are more challenging, but she has good life!
Great interview and comments. Judy
Thanks. Judy! Good luck in the contest. If you read the book, please let me know what you think of it.
Terry- What a great interview and Tracy I wish you nothing bu tthe best with the book it sounds so good since I am a lover of dogs and also walk my dogs all the time and the things you see when you walk the dogs a couple times a day it is so funny. Tracy so glad that you decided to take your chance at writing as I think you have a bestseller on your hands .
Thanks, Peggy, glad you liked the interview. I agree that this one sounds really good!
Peggy–Thank you so much! Some of the funniest true-life stories have happened when I’ve been out walking my dog. Give the book a try. You might love it!
I love books with animals in them this sounds like a fantastic read
Thanks, Georgiann! I hope you give it a try! If you do read it, please let me know what you think. I love hearing from readers!
What an interesting book! Love mysteries and dogs. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! I hope you read and love it! Please let me know what you think if you do….
Love the cover and can’t wait to read the book! Thanks for the chance to win.
Thanks, Laura. Please let me know how you like it. I love hearing from readers. It’s the main thing that keeps me going. 😉
This sounds like a fun book. It’s definitely going on my TBR pile.
Thanks, Judy! Please let me know what you think of it!
My apologies for not finding your first post. This plugin is still new to me and I guess there were a couple of things I didn’t know about it’s behavior…just like a good character, a bit quirky!
The book sounds like a lot of fun. I always love a story that has a dog included. I can’t pass them up. Dogs add a little something extra.
Linda–The book is a mystery, though there is a touch of romance. The main love story that develops through the book is between the protagonist, Kate, and crazy-dog Bella. So hope you still read and love it. I just didn’t want to mislead you. 😉
You’re right, Linda, just as in real life, they do add something extra. Thanks for visiting!
Karen–The Seahawks do yoga. One of my teacher training graduates was contacted to apply to be the yoga teacher. And they just won the superbowl!
I’d say those are pretty nice bragging rights to have for a yoga teacher. 🙂
Indeed! Now if only they’d called me….
I understand a lot of the major league baseball players are now doing yoga!
I love human animal love stories
Looks like a great story, anxious to read it
A LOT OF CHARACTER AND IDENTIFICATION GREAT STORY THANK YOU.
Love to read love dogs love my grandkids and this sounds so good thank you
Bill and Cathy and Melanie, I couldn’t agree more. I LOVE that cover!
Great book! Great cover!
mauback55 at gmail dot com
Sounds like a fun book…love the cover.
I love the premise of the book. And it sounds as though the plot is terrific.
The book sounds like a very good read, one that you can’t wait to find out whats on each page.
Excellent idea for a book – combining dogs, yoga, homelessness and other social issues in a love story. How fabulous – can’t wait to read it!
WONDERFUL photo.
I can understand doing extreme – even evil things to protect those we love. Do not EVER threaten my daughter or I might… 🙂
Karin I can, too. I can be a real momma tiger if someone threatens someone I care about.
Did you see the picture of the dog?
Dog???
Karin, are you talking about the book cover?
No, there was a picture on Facebook this morning where a dog says, “Yes, she can be annoying, but I love her and if you touch her I will chew off your face”
I thought it sort of went with the conversation 🙂
What a great interview on your blog today with Tracy. I don’t do yoga due to disabilities but I am sure reading about this would be really enjoyable. Winning her book would guarantee that I would read it so that is my hope but I can’t keep my figurers crossed until March 4th, so will just have to take my chances on being lucky enough to get Tracy’s great sounding book, then, won’t I? Thank you again for helping us to get to know this author better; that is always a plus to readers, especially me, who enjoys background information. I think that was a result of having to do a lot of research when I was writing my food columns for various newspapers awhile back. Keep up the good work Tracy and much success with your books.
Cynthia
Thank you, Cynthia! I do hope you read the book, and good luck with the giveaway. If you can’t do the movement practice of yoga, you still might benefit from the breath and meditation practices. One of my favorite quotes is “if you can breathe, you can do yoga!”
If you’d like to win a copy of Murder Strikes a Pose, leave a comment here before Tuesday, March 4.
Thank you for hosting me today, Terry! It’s a pleasure being here.