Nothing To Fear But Ferrets
A Kendra Ballantyne, Pet Sitter Mystery
By Linda O. Johnston
Berkley Prime Crime
Aug. 2005
ISBN: 0-425-20373-5
265 pages
$6.99
Kendra Ballantyne's law license slipped out of her hands when she was accused of unprofessional conduct. To make matters worse, a runaway Hummer slams into the den of her dream home which she has to rent to strangers. When she goes to check the damage, she finds a crate of frantic ferrets. The adorable squeakers are illegal pets in California and just knowing that they reside in the home she's renting out could further jeopordize her license. What's a landlady to do?
Things go from bad to worse when Kendra's Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Lexie, lures her back into the house. They find reality show candidate Chad Chatsworth dead and the showbiz wannabe who has rented her beautiful home, Charlotte LaVerne, asks her to find the real killer before she's arrested for a crime she says she didn't commit. So the question is who killed Chad and why was he murdered in her home? Was it Char's hunk of a boyfriend, Yul who might have come on too strong demanding Chad stay away from Char? Or, Char, who could lose all the money she made from the reality show not selecting Chad if they continued an off-screen romance?
Though Kendra can not offer legal advice, she does whatever an undercover investigator can while studying for an ethics exam, pet sitting and dishing out suggestions to those in need. Then there's her need to make a decision whether to move in with her former client now lover, Jeff Hubbard, who spends a lot of time out of town for his investigation business and always asks her to pet sit his dog.
NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FERRETS is filled with gossiping neighbors, party-loving possible suspects, a very busy, energetic, pet-loving protagonist and her adorable spaniel. There's enough problems surfacing to make you thankful your job isn't anything like Kendra's. The characters are dimensional, and well, characters when they get in trouble. The book moved at a fast pace and because Kendra was involved in so many individual's problems, you do have to be alert and keep a mental file on everyone, but what fun.
Four and a half out of five damaged Hummer's
--Denise Fleischer, gottawritenetwork.com
November 5, 2005
