Fine-Feathered Death

Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mystery #3

by Linda O. Johnston

A partner at Kendra's law firm is found murdered-and the only witness is of the avian persuasion.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Animals, Cozy

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 2, 2006

About the author

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 and novellas published, plus, by the end of 2018, she will have had fifty novels published, including mysteries and romance.

Linda currently writes the Barkery and Biscuits Mysteries cozy mystery series for Midnight Ink, and also wrote the Superstition Mysteries for them, both featuring dogs. She has also written the Pet Rescue Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime, which was a spinoff from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series. And yes, they involved dogs, too.

Linda also writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, including a new miniseries about a K-9 ranch where dogs are trained. Linda additionally writes paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne including the Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters--and all the werewolves also have cover dogs.

Linda, a currently inactive transactional attorney, now writes fiction full-time. She is a member of the Los Angeles chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America, including the Los Angeles, Orange County and Santa Clarita chapters.

Reviews

[Karissa]

Kendra Ballantyne is finally practicing law again. She still takes on pet-sitting but in a more limited capacity. The firm she joined is supposed to allow her to enjoy practicing law; but when she is asked to help one of the new elderly lawyers with a case she finds him arrogant and rude. His bird, on the other hand, fascinates her. When the lawyer is murdered and the bird traumatized, she gets to spend a lot of time with the macaw trying to calm the pet down. Since her on-again, off-again boyfriend Jeff is the main suspect she delves into trying to figure out who might have killed the lawyer. With the murder of his paralegal, the police are convinced of Jeff's guilt. Kendra is not and starts narrowing her list of suspects down with pointed questions until the light dawns and she knows who did it. Devising a plan to get the person to confess, she sets about putting the various parts into motion.

[Linda]

Kendra has gotten her law license back and she has a deal at her new law firm to continue with her pet sitting business while working at the firm. When the newest member of the firm is murdered in his office and the only witness is his blue macaw and she isn't talking much. Kendra sets out to shorten the list of suspects.

[Vicki Gooding]

I really enjoyed this book. It involves a Macaw, and the relationship with the Macaw and the main character at times had me in stitches. Easy read.

[Whi]

It's Polly the Parrott lady, Rachel. Kendra is back at work with law lic intact.

[Peggy Haufle]

A fun easy read but some of the situations with the macaw and the next door neighbor seem a bit contrived. There are some interesting characters.

[Jennifer Oberth]

3 stars=I liked it
This is slightly harsher than the warm cozies I read (there's even swearing-lol!). I like the Southern California setting and the rich characters that fill the book.

[nx74defiant]

An ok cozy mystery. I still am not invested in Kendra and Jeff's relationship. I am not quite sure how I'm suppose to feel about Detective Ned Noralles. I learned a lot about Macaws.

[Kristen]

If you love great cozies, you'll enjoy this one. Kendra Ballentyne is a lawyer and a pet-setter in L.A. You can really feel how strong she's devoted she is to her law firm, while she's trying to keep her license, and her love for animals, even if it's pet-setting. We discover how tricky is it to balance both work and her personal love life, when her lover's ex-wife comes back to him and complicates her relationship. We experience how deflated she is, when Jeff's ex appears or calls him, out of the blue. She really loves Jeff and he should be a keeper. As for work, she's in a tough bind, when Ezra Cossner, a new partner in her law firm, is assigned to her. He's not easy to get along with, not even his bird Gigi. Things get dicey, when he's murdered and Jeff's implicated. We see how torn she is and will do anything to clear his name. Between a touch real estate case and some pet-law depositions, and a new murder, things do get heated up and tough for Kendra to find out who's the murderer, even if she might be the next victim...

[Diane]

Dear readers, beware! This book sucks more than a leech pushing a vacuum cleaner; it's terrible.

The protagonist detective is an attorney who also pet-sits as a second career. With pets and murder, I thought this would be a fun and enjoyable book to read; not so, mainly because the protagonist is a complete idiot. Miss Christie would shake her head in shame to learn of the tactics she employs. Her strategy consists of asking anyone she meets whether they committed the murder (brilliant!).

Admittedly, I was having such a hard time getting through the book that I skipped 100 pages in the middle (with all those Donna Leon books still unread, how could I waste my time on this drivel). I doubt I missed much unless your idea of a good mystery is to have some animal-obsessed moron asking everyone she sees if they killed someone.

[Emily Kestrel]

I didn't like this one at all. The story was just too far-fetched and the protagonist's behavior was alternately foolish (running unarmed into a building where she just heard a gunshot, when she knows there's a murderer loose) and unprofessional (going off on people with accusatory questions in the middle of a business meeting.) The author had some annoying stylistic quirks as well, such as her fondness for alliteration. We have poor persecuted pups, dire deeds, virtual vomiting, querying querulously, a baby-faced barrister in beige, and the heroine asking herself if she would enjoy a "contrived confrontation" with her "most suspicious suspects." After a while, this drove me crazy. I am sure this book will find a home among hard-core cozy mystery fans and people who really like the pet angle, but it was not--in any way, shape or form--for me.

[Marty]

This was a better book than NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FERRETS. Kendra can again practice law, but keeps up with her pet-sitting business as well. However, the pet-sitting takes a back seat in this novel. Ezra, a new lawyer in Kendra’s new law firm, brings an anxious screeching macaw, Gigi, with him when he moves his office in. Ezra, left his previous firm when they insinuated that he was getting too old. Ezra left his previous firm but brought a number of clients with him into the firm. His curt officious ways and quick temper, do not make him a popular member of the firm. Soon after his arrival he is killed in his office – and Gigi, is the only witness. Kendra again finds herself in the middle of a murder case.

[Diane ~Firefly~]

It has been a long time since I read the first two, so it took a bit to get back into the swing of things. I wanted to like it more than I actually did and that had a lot to do with the main character, Kendra. She is a lawyer, but she went around accusing people, including her clients, of murder which seems very unprofessional. It also didn't take much for her to latch onto her boyfriend as a suspect - nor much for him to forgive her It wasn't a great motive for murder and the murder victim was pretty unlikeable. I did like all the different pets and Kendra's boss seems like a great guy.

[Kimberly]

Book 3 in the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mystery.
This book finds Kendra practicing law once again. She quickly gets sucked back into solving another mystery, when two members of her law firm are found murdered in the office. The only witness is a macaw with quite a temperament and unfortunately Kendra's fling, Jeff, is on the suspect list. This was a good book, but I missed more of the pet sitting storyline. I did like the introduction of the two new characters who become Kendra's tenants. I have the next book waiting in my to read pile, so I'm looking forward to continuing the series!

[Karen]

This is another one of those books where I really enjoyed the writing, and I would have scored it really high, except for the ending.

There are so many wonderful details throughout this book, dealing both with law and with animals. For many years I was an animal-loving research paralegal, so I appreciated the author's expertise in both fields. The minor plots points were quite good. But the ending. Ugh. I felt like the author just handed the book to a high school kid and told her to write the last few chapters.

[Jenn]

Eh. This one kind of annoyed me. It was a super quick read and I guess I enjoyed it well enough. But the alliteration killed me. The mystery didn't really make a lot of sense. And the conclusion made even less. Also, I could get why Kendra was mad at Jeff for lying to her about where he was, but she wasn't mad about that...she was mad that he was at his ex's house. I mean, the later could have a logical explanation, but the former? Is there really a reason to lie about it?

[Leslie aka StoreyBook Reviews]

good continutation in the series about a lawyer turned pet sitter turned back to lawyer with a twist, working on pet related cases. This is an easy to read series and so far I have yet to figure out who the killer is in each book!

[Lynn]

Quick, fast enjoyable read but Kendra's getting too involved with legal cases --- I prefer when she's pet-sitting! Missed all the inter-action she used to have with a lot of her pet sitter's owners and her friend where she leaves her dog when she's going out! But still entertaining!

[Jane]

A macaw is the witness to her owner's shooting. Kendra's boyfriend is framed for the murder, and one of the detectives is an old foe determined to ignore any exculpatory evidence.

Writing & plotting are up to par.

[Gwen Kozlowski]

Cute series of lawyer-turned-mystery-solver who has a pet sitting business on the side and an adorable Cavalier.

[colleen]

read 06.25.07

[Ladiibbug]

Cute, but unless I'm *really* into a book these days, I move on to the next one! Soooo many books ...

Didn't finish this one.

[Jbuckwal]

not as good as the first two, but I'll keep reading the series.

[Anne-Kathrine]

I enjoyed this book but not as much as the 1st 2. I hope the tone of the next book is more like the 2 others :)

[Sara]

Just a fun read - nothing serious, no big mystery but enjoyable characters and dialog. Entertaining definitely.

[Cathy]

Enjoyable read, but not great. I don't think there was enough evidence for a reader to solve the crime. Also losing patience with the Jeff/Amanda plot.