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28th out of 90 books
—
21 voters
Beaglemania (Pet Rescue Mystery #1)
by
Linda O. Johnston (Goodreads Author)
Read Linda O. Johnston's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.
Lauren Vancouver is the head of HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter north of Los Angeles, but it's often human nature that puts her in the path of danger. Just like when she helps rescue four adorable beagle puppies that were dumped down a drainpipe at a nasty puppy mill. One of the mill's employe...more
Lauren Vancouver is the head of HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter north of Los Angeles, but it's often human nature that puts her in the path of danger. Just like when she helps rescue four adorable beagle puppies that were dumped down a drainpipe at a nasty puppy mill. One of the mill's employe...more
Paperback, 298 pages
Published
March 1st 2011
by Berkley
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“Beaglemania” is the first in the new Pet Rescue Mystery Series from Linda O. Johnston, the well-known creator of the popular Pet-Setter Mysteries. It’s easy to tell the author has a soft spot for all sorts of animals, big and small, and even human, especially if they are extra kind to animals. Unfortunately, not all humans are, as Lauren Vancouver—head of HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter—discovers all too often.
At a particularly nasty puppy mill, Lauren helps rescue four adorable beagle pu...more
At a particularly nasty puppy mill, Lauren helps rescue four adorable beagle pu...more
This book was an extension of another series I love by this talented author. In fact Ms. Johnston crossing both series made the characters instantly familiar to me. A very clever concept.
This book revolves around a murder at a private pet-rescue operation that is directed by Lauren Vancouver. Ms. Vancouver is our new sleuth and she brings her talents of organization to the search for the killer, which, we know is Not herself, despite what the prime detective feels.
In a way, I wish that our polic...more
This book revolves around a murder at a private pet-rescue operation that is directed by Lauren Vancouver. Ms. Vancouver is our new sleuth and she brings her talents of organization to the search for the killer, which, we know is Not herself, despite what the prime detective feels.
In a way, I wish that our polic...more
1st in series. Quite the fun little read.
Our opening scene starts the book off with Lauren Vancover crashing a puppy-mill raid and rescues some Beagle pups from a storm drain. SHe has some heated words with Efram (on of her animal rehabilitation volunteers) and then she finds him dead at her rescue center. Unfortuneately all signs are pointing to her as the best murder suspect. Lauren is quite determined to find the killer before she is arrested, and in the meantime, finds some good homes for he...more
Our opening scene starts the book off with Lauren Vancover crashing a puppy-mill raid and rescues some Beagle pups from a storm drain. SHe has some heated words with Efram (on of her animal rehabilitation volunteers) and then she finds him dead at her rescue center. Unfortuneately all signs are pointing to her as the best murder suspect. Lauren is quite determined to find the killer before she is arrested, and in the meantime, finds some good homes for he...more
An enjoyable light read for fans of canine-related mysteries, though the title characters don't play much of a role in the book. The story focuses on animal-lover Lauren Vancouver, who runs an animal rescue center and learns that one of her volunteers has also been working for a puppy mill. When she goes to the bust of the puppy mill, she finds that the volunteer, Ephram Black, has thrown 4 beagle puppies into a storm drain, leading to an angry confrontation. Later, Lauren is spending the night...more
The Publisher’s Weekly review of Beaglemania says it all in a nutshell with its description: “less than engaging first in a new series.” The story is a fairly predictable cozy mystery set in an animal shelter with little focus on character development. Not terrible, just not terribly exciting.
I have not read the author’s Pet-Sitter series, from which Beaglemania is apparently a spinoff book. Beaglemania’s heroine, Lauren Vancouver, is the administrator at HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter an...more
I have not read the author’s Pet-Sitter series, from which Beaglemania is apparently a spinoff book. Beaglemania’s heroine, Lauren Vancouver, is the administrator at HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter an...more
I love dogs, I want them all to have homes. I love people who help animals, I want them all to be successful. I love mysteries, I want to thrill and chill as I ponder "who done it?".
So I'm primed to love this book, however, you don't always get what you want.
It was flat and I never really warmed up the main character. She's tough to like and a bit whiny about her situation in life, still when she's offered a hand she is (like some of her charges start out) more likely to bite it or run away to...more
So I'm primed to love this book, however, you don't always get what you want.
It was flat and I never really warmed up the main character. She's tough to like and a bit whiny about her situation in life, still when she's offered a hand she is (like some of her charges start out) more likely to bite it or run away to...more
Concept/Ideas: 4.5/5
Storyline/Plot: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
I loved Beaglemania! Such a cute book, filled with suspense, cuteness, suspense, and more cuteness. This was not YA, and it was considered an adult-mystery type novel. I'm not a huge fan of adult (aside from Stephen King, etc...) but this book was good. I think this is a good book for readers of any ages in my opinion. If you love animals, this is the right book for you! If your love mystery, this is...more
Storyline/Plot: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
I loved Beaglemania! Such a cute book, filled with suspense, cuteness, suspense, and more cuteness. This was not YA, and it was considered an adult-mystery type novel. I'm not a huge fan of adult (aside from Stephen King, etc...) but this book was good. I think this is a good book for readers of any ages in my opinion. If you love animals, this is the right book for you! If your love mystery, this is...more
This was just a fun and delightful who-done-it puppy caper mystery. I am a pet lover, so that made the book all that much better. Not only is there pet love, but the book has mystery, romance, and lots and lots of animals. There is also lots of mystery, I loved they way I was kept guessing right until the end, who was the guilty person.
This is the first book I've read by this author, Linda O. Johnston, and I was not disappointed, I understand this is the first book of a series, however, it was...more
This is the first book I've read by this author, Linda O. Johnston, and I was not disappointed, I understand this is the first book of a series, however, it was...more
This is the first cozy mystery that made me cry, but not because of the animals...rather it was the kindness shown towards a sick woman who was being foreclosed on and trying to surrender her much loved dog to give him a better life.
This was a good start to a new series featuring a woman who loves animals and manages the HoTRescues animal shelter. It's a spinoff of another series which I haven't read, but it was a fine stand alone read. In this first installment, Lauren Vancouver finds out that...more
This was a good start to a new series featuring a woman who loves animals and manages the HoTRescues animal shelter. It's a spinoff of another series which I haven't read, but it was a fine stand alone read. In this first installment, Lauren Vancouver finds out that...more
I was excited to stumble across this book at the library. A new cozy mystery series that features an animal shelter and that focuses on animal rescue sounded perfect! Unfortunately, I didn't love it as much as I had hoped. It's hard to enjoy a series when you aren't particularly fond of the main character and this was my main problem with this book. Lauren, the woman who runs the shelter is not an easy woman to like, despite the fact that she's an animal lover and works to save animals everyday....more
I really enjoyed the setting for this book, being an animal shelter volunteer myself, and thought it was an original idea for a cozy mystery setting. There were a few inaccuracies, however, such as a female dog getting neutered (should be spayed), and I had trouble believing that an animal shelter director would not have any (even foster) animals of her own. I would have liked a little more character development on the suspects although I did figure out the murderer before the end of the book. O...more
On one level, I'm not proud that I read this... it just wasn't that great overall. The writing was flat and the plot was by the numbers. I gave it three stars because of the content. I volunteer with a rescue group and I thought it did an AWESOME job of explaining humane society procedures and I found it very cathartic as caring for homeless dogs never ends and is not glamorous. It's lonely, frustrating work and I so appreciated the personality of the main character. I read Beaglemania and then...more
Picked this up on a whim when I saw it on the display by the library checkout. (With a title like that, how could I not??) Turns out it was a whodunnit kind of story. Started extremely slow but by midway through I was interested enough to finish. Was hoping for (though not really expecting) a finish that made be go "aha!" It didn't happen, but it earns two stars for keeping me interested enough to finish it. Toss it in the "Beach Read" category.
(And since I finished it after the official ball dr...more
(And since I finished it after the official ball dr...more
Oct 28, 2012
Stephanie (Once Upon a Chapter)
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
read-in-2012,
ebook-read
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I can't give this book an overall rating.
I'd give 4 stars to parts of the book, including Lauren (the main character), the animals, the details about animal rescue, the relationship that Lauren has with the animals.
I'd give a solid 3.5 stars to most of the supporting characters and their relationships with Lauren. I'd enjoy reading more about many of them, but this was a short book, and a lot of them were introduced. Not a problem, but I didn't have a chance to love them.
The overall writing was...more
I'd give 4 stars to parts of the book, including Lauren (the main character), the animals, the details about animal rescue, the relationship that Lauren has with the animals.
I'd give a solid 3.5 stars to most of the supporting characters and their relationships with Lauren. I'd enjoy reading more about many of them, but this was a short book, and a lot of them were introduced. Not a problem, but I didn't have a chance to love them.
The overall writing was...more
Well, I should have known better, as a cat person, to buy a book called Beaglemania. But they always get me to buy at least one book I don't really want at the Printers Row Book Fair. I liked the idea of the heroine being an animal rescuer who becomes an amateur detective to clear herself of murder, but the story just didn't draw me in. And there were a lot of characters who seemed sort of stock, not like real people. Dog lovers, however, might like this book better than I did.
Beaglemania is what could be called a cozy mystery. The main character runs a no kill animal shelter and one of her employees (who was found the day before in a situation which exhibited cruelty to animals - specifically beagles)is found dead in the shelter. I've read a few of Linda O. Johnston books and they're okay but if you're looking at the genre as something you want to read, there are better books with which to spend your time.
I liked the book as far as the story went. However, I think the title is a bit misleading. Having had beagles in my life for the past 15 years, I was overjoyed to see a book by the name Beaglemania and with little beagle puppies on the cover. I thought the whole mystery would revolve around beagles. That was so not the case...little disappointed in that regard.
This is what I call a "grandma mystery". Nothing to exciting, no foul language, no sex, no violence. Its a book my grandma would enjoy.
I'll read any book about animals but this one was pretty uneventful. Its an easy nonthinking read that was perfect for the plane ride from New York to Seattle and back home.
I'll read any book about animals but this one was pretty uneventful. Its an easy nonthinking read that was perfect for the plane ride from New York to Seattle and back home.
Gutsy Lauren Vancouver runs a shelter for homeless pets. She rescues four beagle puppies from a very nasty puppy mill and then discovers one of her vouteers was working there to. A few days after letting him, he's found dead at the shelter putting everything lauren has worked and her own freedom at risk.
It was OK, not my favorite in the genre. The whodunit was fairly simple to figure out. And I didn't like Lauren's attitude toward cats. For a PET Rescue series, this was very much focused on dogs, and cats were always described as haughty, aloof, etc. That's one aspect of felinity, but when I visit a cat shelter, I end up being swarmed by cats craving affection. It seems strange to me that a shelter manager would still buy into the "cats are aloof" view.
This is a lovely little cozy about Animal Rescue, and you will enjoy this, especially if you love dogs. The plot was somewhat obvious but the characters and setting were good. I only wished for the beagles
of the title to have a bigger role.
of the title to have a bigger role.
This book was just boring. I wanted to like it. I really did, but it was just flat. I never warmed to the main character. I feel the author tried to push me to like her, which made it really hard to do so.
Similar to (and tied in with, however slightly) Johnston's pet sitter mysteries, which I enjoyed for a few books and felt went stale. This was cute, though, if a little convoluted.
Neither the protagonist nor the supporting characters grabbed my attention here. Not nuch of a mystery, repetitive, and a little preachy. I don't think I will continue with the series.
Wonderful! Lauren Vancouver is a feisty and lovable character. I loved her enthusiasm for animals and her fight against animal cruelty. Lauren never gave up when she was wrongly accused of murder and used sometimes funny ingenuity to solve the crime.
A fun, escape read. Nothing too complicated or surprising. I'll probably check out the next book in the series.
Fans of the Kendra Ballantyne Pet-Sitter Mystery series would enjoy this pet friendly cozy mystery series.
I love mystries and this is the first in a series of Pet Rescue Mysteries.
A quick and good read.
A quick and good read.
I like that the author brings the problem of puppy mills and pet rescue efforts to light through this novel, the first in the new pet rescue mystery series. The plot so far is good, but I keep comparing pet rescuer Lauren Vancouver to Kendra Ballantyne, the petsitter in Linda O. Johnston's other mystery series, and Lauren is not as well developed a character as yet. Still a mystery worth reading.
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Linda O. Johnston's first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. Since then, Linda has had more short stories published, plus ten mysteries and eighteen romance novels.
Linda’s new Pet Rescue Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime is a spinoff from her successful Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-...more
More about Linda O. Johnston...
Linda’s new Pet Rescue Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime is a spinoff from her successful Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-...more
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Aug 24, 2012 10:00am