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NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FERRETS
by Linda O. Johnston
Berkley, August 2005
272 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0425203735


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FERRETS is a fun extension of the new Petsitter mysteries. As in the first book, Kendra Ballantyne is still working on regaining her law license and taking on both pets and their legal issues in the meantime.

The book starts with a bang -- more of a crunch, really -- as a runaway Hummer plows into Kendra's home. While investigating the damage, she finds that her tenants have been hiding contraband. Not illegal drugs, but illegal pets -- a cageful of ferrets, which are banned in California.

You'd think that a roomful of felonious ferrets and a hole in the wall would be trouble enough to deal with, but the fireworks really begin when a former reality star is found dead in the living room after publicly fighting with Kendra's tenants. Both Charlotte and Yul beg for Kendra's help; Charlotte to clear her own reputation and Yul to clear that of his pets. The ferrets were loose around the corpse, and have been accused of nibbling the man to death.

Ferret fanciers will be somewhat disappointed at how small a role the titled animals play in the plot. While Johnston deals even-handedly with ferret facts and California law, she spends almost as much time referencing the Saki story Srendi Vashtar, which is misquoted as being about a boy who deliberately commits murder by polecat. I got the impression that Johnston hoped to rewrite Saki as a mystery, only to be stymied by the generally gregarious nature of the modern mustalid.

For those who care about the established characters rather than the novelty du jour, there is plenty to go on. Kendra's just as engaging as she was in the first book, SIT STAY SLAY. Her love life heats up and boils over. All of the kooky characters from the first book are back again, with some new additions.

And for puzzle fanciers, the mystery may not be the tightest, but it's full of enough red herrings and switch-offs to stay interesting and challenging to solve. All in all, NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FERRETS is a delightful afternoon's reading.

Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, August 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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