with Linda O. Johnston
We are delighted to welcome mystery author Linda O. Johnston to Omnimystery News today.
Linda is the author of the "Pet Rescue" mysteries — the most recent title is Teacup Turbulence (Berkley Prime Crime; January 2014 mass market paperback and ebook formats) — a spinoff from her "Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter" mysteries, and feature Lauren Vancouver, a determined pet rescuer who runs a no-kill shelter. In this cozy series, "no-kill" refers to pets, not people!
We recently had the chance to chat with the busy author about her books.
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Omnimystery News: Teacup Turbulence is the fifth mystery in this series. What is it about series characters that appeals to you?
Photo provided courtesy of
Linda O. Johnston
Linda O. Johnston: I like to get to know my characters! That's one reason I enjoy writing mysteries since they focus on one protagonist who always winds up either getting herself or her friends out of trouble. In the Pet Rescue Mysteries, Lauren Vancouver thinks of herself as caring a lot for animals and always being in charge. She winds up rescuing not only dogs and cats but people, too, and she learns especially, as time goes on, that no matter how much she likes to think she can control the world, she has to deal with people and circumstances as they occur. As her environment and expectations change, so does she — but she still solves mysteries, of course.
I also write for Harlequin Nocturne and Harlequin Romantic Suspense. They feature a new romance in each book, so when I'm writing in a miniseries, like my Alpha Force Nocturnes about a covert military unit of shapeshifters, I generally feature a hero and/or heroine I've introduced before. That way, I know them, too.
OMN: How do you characterize the mysteries in this series?
LOJ: My Pet Rescue Mysteries are definitely cozies. Lauren is an amateur sleuth. I think it works well for my readers to recognize that Lauren's stories are cozies since it gives her more latitude to try solutions that professionals can't.
OMN: Give us the synopsis of Teacup Turbulence in a tweet.
LOJ: In Teacup Turbulence, a special ad campaign causes a lack of small adoptable dogs in L.A. — and bringing a bunch there by a caravan of planes turns into murder!
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
LOJ: My process has changed over time. I used to do detailed outlines but now work straight from a synopsis. I usually stick to it, including with respect to the characters I introduce in it, but my creations sometimes like to surprise me and inform me that whoever I thought had dunnit was perfectly innocent, and someone else committed the crime.
OMN: How important is the setting to your books?
LOJ: The Pet Rescue Mysteries are set in Los Angeles, primarily in the San Fernando Valley, which is where I live. I don't necessarily intend for my descriptions to be exact, but I've lived in the area long enough to know that what I say about it tends to be accurate. I find this locale important to the Pet Rescue Mysteries because I know so many people in the L.A. area who really care about pets and want to ensure that homeless ones get new, loving families. It's therefore a good setting to write about.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in your books?
LOJ: After starting to write the Pet Rescue Mystery series, I began volunteering at a wonderful pet shelter both for research and because I care about the animals. The background of Teacup Turbulence is loosely based on genuine, amazingly wonderful groups of pilots and others who transport homeless pets from areas where they are hard to place to where they can find good homes. That's not to say that either I or the people I interviewed for research have ever stumbled over murders!
OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a mystery author and thus I am also …".
LOJ: … a killer. Fictionally, of course. I'd never hurt another person … unless, of course, they harmed an animal, particularly a dog, right in front of me. And what would I do? Well, I'm a lawyer on hiatus as well as a writer, so I'd use the law as recourse before I'd do anything actually physical. Better yet, I'd add the creeps to one of my books and — what else? — kill them off.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests or hobbies? Do any of these find their way into your books?
LOJ: It won't surprise anyone who reads my books that I'm obsessed with dogs. In fact, my younger Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Mystie is on my lap as I write this, with her head tucked near my shoulder. My Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries starred Mystie's best friend Lexie, another Cavalier. My mysteries all have dogs in them. And, yes, as I mentioned, I do volunteer at a pet shelter in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles — a result of my initial research when I started writing my Pet Rescue Mysteries.
OMN: What's next for you?
LOJ: As I also mentioned before, in addition to my cozy mysteries, I write for two Harlequin series: Harlequin Romantic Suspense and Harlequin Nocturne, which is paranormal romance. I have two Nocturnes coming out in 2014 — both about animals, too: my covert military force of shapeshifters.
In addition, I'm delighted to say that I will soon have a new mystery series with Midnight Ink: my superstition mysteries! Watch for the first one in September 2014. And yes, dogs play a starring role in these stories, too.
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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 published more short stories and novellas, plus 35 romance and mystery novels, including Harlequin Romantic Suspense as well as the Alpha Force paranormal romance miniseries for Harlequin Nocturne.
For more information about the author and her work, please visit her website at LindaOJohnston.com or find her on Facebook.
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Teacup Turbulence
Linda O. Johnston
A Pet Rescue Mystery
Los Angeles animal shelter manager Lauren Vancouver has a soft spot for animals in need — and a keen eye for crime …
Thanks to a savvy ad campaign featuring teacup pups sporting HotPets Bling — a new line of faux jewelry dog collars — small dog adoptions have skyrocketed across the city. So when Lauren discovers a shelter in the Midwest with more toy dogs than it can handle, she arranges a private plane to swoop in and fly the pups back to LA.
But Lauren didn’t count on rescue worker Teresa Kantrim coming along for the ride. Teresa has cared for the dogs since they were found and doesn’t trust anyone from La-La Land to take over the job. Her biting comments clearly haven’t earned Teresa any new friends, but when she turns up murdered, it’s time for Lauren to dig into Teresa’s past and find out who wanted her put down.
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