I believe  in exercise and fitness; I’m of the “use it or lose it” school ; swimming, dancing and walking are my favorite forms of exercise  although I have been known to work out at a gym and occasionally play tennis or, my new favorite game, Pickleball.  When I wrote Another Murder In the Inn, the second in my Inn series, I decided that Sandy, the owner of the inn, would organize and offer  a fitness week, several days of exercise and diet which would be  interrupted by a murder.  She and the other students, between stretch classes and learning relaxation techniques, practicing  line dancing  and giving themselves honey facials, would try to solve the murder. The following are a few of the exercises from the book.

WATER AEROBICS—Jump up, legs apart, use arms at the same time

Hold on to the side of the pool, do leg kicks, kick front, side, back, repeat, Reverse sides

Take a partner, hold her under her arms while she bicyles m, count to fifty.  Reverse roles

STRESS MANAGEMENT—    Deep breathing, (cover first  nostril(#1) , inhale through the other (#2), hold for ten seconds- release #1, cover #2 and exhale. Repeat)

FACIALS—-  Pat honey  over entire face –(no licking lips allowed, this is a diet week)  Let the honey stay on face for fifteen minutes,  patting gently several times,  cover face with a hot towel,  remove honey gently with hot towel.   This leaves the skin soft and satiny looking and feeling.

LINE DANCE ROUTINE  (to any lively music)

Step touch, step touch to the right 1-2-3-4

Step touch, stop touch to the left 5-6-7-8

Turn a quarter, repeat until you are back to the front of the room

Point toes to the right, to the left, to the right, to the left  1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8

Walk in a circle to eight counts,

Begin again

LAUGHTER    Big. loud, deep belly laughs, The best exercise of all

Some readers said, as they did with the recipes from the first book, Murder In the Inn, that they enjoyed the exercises as much as the story.  Again, I’ll take any compliments I can get.

Both books, along with the recipes and exercises, are available in both soft cover and as ebooks on Amazon.com or from me directly at booksbybarbara.com

mysteryonthemenu.com—-murderisserved.com