The wellness industry promotes countless ways to optimize one’s mind, body, and soul. But those luxurious retreats and appealingly packaged products don’t always come through on their promises, in real life as well as in fiction. Forthcoming novels spanning the psychological suspense, satirical thriller, and cozy mystery genres reveal the dangers lurking behind the pursuit of perfection.
Be Mine
When Beth, an exhausted first-time mother, receives a letter marked with an infinity symbol, she knows it’s from Elixir, the cultlike wellness brand she was once entangled in. A decade earlier, fresh out of a breakup, Beth was lured by life-changing promises and became smitten with the group’s charismatic leader. She thought she’d put the past behind her, but it seems to have caught up.
Death in the Downline
Abrams skewers the multimillion-dollar multilevel marketing industry with the story of struggling journalist Drew, who moves from New York City to the New Jersey suburbs and finds herself drawn into a pyramid scheme called LuminUS. Its reps appear to have found the secret to beauty and wealth, but when one of them ends up dead, Drew’s investigation into the incident takes her all the way to the top.
Essence of Foul Play
Essential oils, avocado masks, and prickly pear massages are on the menu in this cozy series launch. Everything appears to be on track for the grand opening of Emma Brennan’s Aroma Wellness spa, until a rival owner is found bludgeoned to death and Emma becomes the prime suspect. With the help of family members and her beloved cat, Emma turns amateur sleuth to catch the real culprit.
The Last Session
The author of The Writing Retreat once again finds psychological thrills in a remote setting, this time at a mysterious wellness center in the deserts of New Mexico. Social worker Thea is sure she recognizes the traumatized woman who shows up at the psychiatric unit where she works, and when the patient disappears, she follows the clues to a creepy retreat whose organizers may hold the key to her own murky past.
