Linda O. Johnston Nothing to Fear but Ferrets

Nothing to Fear but Ferrets

Linda O. Johnston

Berkley, August 2005, $6.99, 272 pp.

ISBN 0425263735

She lost her law license when she was accused of handing over a strategic memo to opposing council. Kendra Ballantine was in a bad situation financially so she rented out her million dollar home, became a freelance pet sitter and cleared her name when she came under suspicion of murdering her clients (see SIT, STAY, SLAY). Now she is studying for the multistate professional Responsibility Exam in order to get her license reinstated.

When a driverless car rams through a wall in the house Kendra is renting, she goes to inspect the damage and she finds a murdered corpse of the man her renter dumped on national TV. Ferrets (which are illegal as pets in California are on the body) but Kendra stashes them out of sight before the police arrive so she won't jeopardize getting her license returned. Since Kendra likes her renter, she does some sleuthing even when she is warned off by an anonymous phone call and is injured when she slips down the steps because somebody put oil on them.

Linda O. Johnston has a definite talent for infusing humor in just the right places in the storyline so that readers will find themselves chuckling out loud after a particularly tense scene is followed by a funny one. The heroine is a stubborn pet lover who plans to incorporate being a pet advocate into her practice if she passes the tests. Pet lovers and amateurs sleuth fans will find this series deserving of an award as well as a place on the bestseller lists.

Harriet Klausner