Downward-Facing Death

Written by Neal Pollack

Narrated by Fred Stella

Blessed with uncanny deductive skills and a blasé disregard for authority, Matt Bolster was a rising LAPD homicide detective by the age of thirty-five. He was also overworked, divorced, near-alcoholic, and miserable. Then, to impress a girl, he agreed to try yoga. And with a single savasana, everything changed.

Now Bolster has traded his badge and gun for a scraggly beard and the life of an itinerant yoga teacher, dabbling in P.I. work to make rent. He mostly handles missing-persons cases, credit-card fraud—nothing too messy. But that’s before Ajoy Chaterjee, the billionaire founder of one of the world’s leading yoga-business empires, is found murdered inside his West LA flagship studio. Bolster knows the LAPD doesn’t have a prayer of cracking the secrets of the yoga world. But he does, and he really needs the dough.

Of course, sticking to the principles of the yamas and niyamas during a murder investigation isn’t easy, especially with so many hot women among the suspects. But personal ethics will be the least of Bolster’s problems if the killer finds him first…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Sep 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781480556270

Neal Pollack

Neal Pollack is the author of the bestselling memoir Alternadad and several books of satirical fiction, including The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature and the rock novel Never Mind the Pollacks. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

Reviews for Downward-Facing Death

[krazy4katz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I needed something light. Although murder mysteries are normally not my thing, this one had enough yoga to make it interesting. The main character is, of course, Matt Bolster. ;-) It helped that the yoga discussions mirror the controversy today regarding the commercialization of this ancient practice (or practices). There were also a few twists and turns along the way that kept me reading. Good sense of humor and pretty well-written.

[thelibraryhag · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When a world-famous yoga guru is murdered, the Los Angeles police department calls on the help fo former police officer, Matt Bolster. (Yes, that is his name). Anyway, Matt is no longer a hard-hitting, corrupt policeman. Now he is a dope-smoking poor yoga teacher. But since there is a lot of yoga related crime in Los Angeles, according to Matt anyway, he is often called in to consult. But he has never been called in for something so high-profile and the city is offering big money for him to solve this murder. So Matt accepts the job and begins his investigation not knowing what a stir he is going to cause.I really enjoyed this book. I bought it when it was a Kindle Serial but I did not read it until all the episodes had loaded. I did not plan it that way but I am glad I did since I don't do cliff-hangers well. I love yoga so I just had to read it. Even though it gives a less than idealistic view of the yoga business, I found it lots of fun to read. They mystery was pretty good too. Matt is an interesting character and the world of LA yoga that he paints is full of one nut job after another. His descriptions of LA are very good. I hope to see Matt again.