The Aqua Aerobics Assault
(2026)(Book 15 in the Sunset Manor Mystery series)
A Story by Cathlyn Sweets
What happens when a retirement community's aqua aerobics instructor turns up floating face-up in a pool gone suspiciously green?
At Sunset Manor, Tuesday mornings are supposed to be gentle — a little splashing, a little stretching, and done in time for lunch. But when aqua aerobics instructor Coral Waters is found unconscious in a pool shimmering with a faintly wrong, chartreuse hue, the residents of Sunset Manor refuse to leave the investigation to the professionals. After all, what would be the fun in that?
Leading the charge is Violet Hartwell, former high-school principal and reluctant swimmer, whose vintage leather notebook has seen more crime scenes than Detective Murry's notepad ever will. Alongside her is Frank Morrison, retired Navy man and proud operator of The Interceptor — a mobility scooter tricked out with pool floaties and a GoPro hat-cam. Then there's Agnes Pemberton, whose gossipy Manor Murmur newsletter reaches more inboxes than the local paper; Dolores Martinez, a former Vegas showgirl with a sequined flask, a lock-pick, and an alibi for everything; and Ray Cromwell, a quietly formidable retired police captain whose thirty years of instinct are as sharp as ever.
What begins as a chemical accident quickly reveals something far more sinister: a contractor skimming profits, a cover-up years in the making, and a victim who knew too much. Untangling the truth will require underwater surveillance missions gone gloriously wrong, a synchronized swimming diversion, and one magnificently irresponsible special-edition newsletter.
The Aqua Aerobics Assault is a warm, wickedly funny cozy mystery about the unlikely power of community, chaos, and the kind of dogged determination that doesn't retire just because you do.
In Sunset Manor, justice always floats to the top — even when it takes a pool noodle to get there.
Genre: Mystery
At Sunset Manor, Tuesday mornings are supposed to be gentle — a little splashing, a little stretching, and done in time for lunch. But when aqua aerobics instructor Coral Waters is found unconscious in a pool shimmering with a faintly wrong, chartreuse hue, the residents of Sunset Manor refuse to leave the investigation to the professionals. After all, what would be the fun in that?
Leading the charge is Violet Hartwell, former high-school principal and reluctant swimmer, whose vintage leather notebook has seen more crime scenes than Detective Murry's notepad ever will. Alongside her is Frank Morrison, retired Navy man and proud operator of The Interceptor — a mobility scooter tricked out with pool floaties and a GoPro hat-cam. Then there's Agnes Pemberton, whose gossipy Manor Murmur newsletter reaches more inboxes than the local paper; Dolores Martinez, a former Vegas showgirl with a sequined flask, a lock-pick, and an alibi for everything; and Ray Cromwell, a quietly formidable retired police captain whose thirty years of instinct are as sharp as ever.
What begins as a chemical accident quickly reveals something far more sinister: a contractor skimming profits, a cover-up years in the making, and a victim who knew too much. Untangling the truth will require underwater surveillance missions gone gloriously wrong, a synchronized swimming diversion, and one magnificently irresponsible special-edition newsletter.
The Aqua Aerobics Assault is a warm, wickedly funny cozy mystery about the unlikely power of community, chaos, and the kind of dogged determination that doesn't retire just because you do.
In Sunset Manor, justice always floats to the top — even when it takes a pool noodle to get there.
Genre: Mystery