Book Review: Meow is for Murder

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Meow is for Murder Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Linda O. Johnston
Class/Genre: Mystery Woman Main Character Amateur Sleuth Cozy
Series: Kendra Ballantyne - Pet-Sitter Mysteries # 4
Berkley, Feb 2007, $6.99

After an ethics violation, Kendra Ballantyne’s law license was suspended and she became a pet sitter to pay the bills. Now that her license is reinstated she moved to the laid back law firm belonging to Border York and company where most of the lawyers are senior citizens. She works with Borden and is free to choose her own cases including those involving pets. She is still a pet sitter and has called her business Critter, TLC, LLC to prove she takes the business seriously.

When her lover’s ex wife Amanda Hubbard asks her to watch her two cats while she goes out of town Kendra very reluctantly agrees. The stalkers show up demanding to know where Amanda is and Kendra realizes how scary he is. She thinks he got into Amanda’s home because the refrigerator was open. When Amanda returns home she sees her stalker dead in her house and the police think she is the killer. She begs Kendra, who has solved homicides before, to help her, and Kendra agrees when she promises to get out of her ex-husbands life. The problem is Leon was a serial stalker and had many enemies all glad to see him dead. Kendra comes up with a way to smoke the killer out and gets more than she bargained for with her intelligent but offbeat idea.

MEOW IS FOR MURDER is a humorous, cleverly constructed murder mystery that fans who love and take great pleasure in intelligent and clever who done-its will thoroughly enjoy. Pet lovers will also appreciate Linda O. Johnston’s latest crime caper with an eccentric cast that infuses the plot with a sense of jocularity and pets that readers would love to adopt. The heroine juggles her jobs yet still has time to help animals.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner