Omnimystery News is pleased to welcome Linda O. Johnston, author of the new Pet Rescue mystery series featuring Lauren Vancouver. The second book in the series, The More the Terrier (Berkley Prime Crime, October 2011 Mass Market Paperback and ebook editions) is published today.
Today Linda writes about dilemmas.
— ◊ —
We all have dilemmas in our lives. They’re situations where we feel torn, where there are at least two choices facing us and deciding on either direction comes with issues of its own.
Photo provided courtesy of
Linda O. Johnston
I’m happy to say that I’ve given Lauren Vancouver, the protagonist of my Pet Rescue Mystery series, one heck of a dilemma in her latest adventure, The More the Terrier. After all, isn’t it fun to read about fictional characters and how they handle their problems?
Lauren is a skilled and dedicated administrator of a private, no-kill pet shelter. She’ll do anything to save animals, and she despises those who harm them. Most of the time.
But in The More the Terrier, Lauren learns that her former mentor, Mamie Spelling, has become an animal hoarder. Lauren is horrified, and of course does all she can to save the animals. Every one of them comes out of it just fine. This is fiction, after all. And in the Pet Rescue Mysteries, “no-kill” means pets, not people!
Yes, someone gets killed. It’s a woman who has been hounding Mamie, and Mamie becomes the major suspect. But Mamie is aging and confused, so here is Lauren’s dilemma: Should she help her former mentor clear her name? But Mamie, as a hoarder, has also harmed animals, and Lauren despises people who harm animals.
What do you think Lauren does? You undoubtedly guessed it. She helps Mamie. That means that Lauren once more must solve a murder.
The Pet Rescue Mysteries are a spinoff series from my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries, in which Kendra comes to think of herself as a murder magnet. Kendra makes cameo appearances in the Pet Rescue Mysteries, and Lauren’s shelter HotRescues is generously funded by Kendra’s wealthy guy friend Dante de Francisco.
That adds to Lauren’s dilemma. She likes Kendra well enough but she certainly doesn’t want to get involved with solving murders, too.
Not that I’m giving her much choice. And the murder in The More the Terrier isn’t the last one Lauren will need to solve!
It’s really fun writing about Lauren and her shelter, HotRescues. As I mention often, I happen to love animals. I’d love to save them all, and I can--fictionally, of course.
The Pet Rescue Mysteries began in March with Beaglemania, and the next one will be Hounds Abound, which will be published in 2012.
What is the worst dilemma you’ve faced? How did you resolve it?
Please come visit me at LindaOJohnston.com and at KillerHobbies.blogspot.com on Wednesdays. Friend me on Facebook. I’d love to hear what you think of pet rescue — and The More the Terrier!
— ◊ —
About The More the Terrier:
When shelter manager Lauren Vancouver finds out that her old mentor, Mamie Spelling, is an animal hoarder, no one is more shocked, and she jumps in to help re-home the cramped critters.
But Mamie's troubles don't end there. She's accused of murder when the CEO of a pet shelter network is found dead. And Lauren's dogged determination to clear her former friend of murder may put a killer on her tail.
0 comments:
Post a Comment