"The More the Terrier:
A Pet Rescue Mystery, by Linda Johnston (Berkley Prime Crime, 2011, $7.99,
296 pages)
Too Good To Be True?
Four cute terriers on the cover but I couldn’t find them anywhere
inside the book! (I may have come across one of them, though.)
Nevertheless, The More
the Terrier is more than just a murder mystery: it introduces us to the
problem of animal hoarding and the world of adopting
from dog shelters. You really get a bang for your buck – suspense plus an
introductory education that is easy to swallow.
Although the shelters in Los Angeles depicted in Terrier are probably not realistic and
may be too good to be true, at least in the 10 years’ experience of this
reviewer and shelter worker, Johnston does a noteworthy job of bringing animal hoarding
and shelter adoptions to the forefront. After reading Terrier, you just might be moved to drop in to your local shelter.
Yippy skippy!
Almost too much was happening in Terrier: the mysterious murder of a shelter director who nobody
liked so everyone was a suspect, a former mentor turning out to be an
animal hoarder and then having to find shelters for those dogs on the spur of the
moment, remodeling and enlarging a shelter, hiring a trainer, planning a
fundraising event, two networks of shelter directors in competition with each
other, and I’m sure I left out some other simultaneous goings-on. In addition, Vancouver is lucky enough to have a psychologist on staff to interview adopters.
Tee Hee!
Lauren Vancouver is a shelter director and amateur sleuth
whose shelter, HotRescues, is funded by the wealthy pet superstore owner of
HotPets, with seemingly unlimited funds, just as Vancouver has seemingly
unlimited time to meet and approve all prospective adopters and conduct home
visits before and after the adoptions. (I kept thinking HotPockets and HotPants
rather than HotRescues and HotPets – tee hee!)
The Author, The
Books, The Future
Linda Johnston, a lawyer who writes paranormal romances in
her spare time, is now the author of two pet rescue mysteries, taking on puppy
mills and murder in Beaglemania, and of the 13 pet-sitter mysteries starring Kendra Ballantyne, another murder magnet.
Perhaps when Johnston writes about labs
or golden retrievers, I will read another of her literary attempts but, then again,
perhaps not. On the other hand, I must credit her with "tackling" issues like
cloning, puppy mills, and animal hoarding.
Unfortunately, success was lacking
in keeping my interest. Everyone was equally likely to be the murderer though
in the end, it did all fall together but I never did follow just exactly how
Vancouver figured out “who done it.” Perhaps you will.
Disclaimer: I
purchased this book for review.
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