Teacup Turbulence by Linda O. Johnston

Teacup Turbulence by Linda O. Johnston ISBN-13: 9780425259979 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: January 7, 2014

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Los Angeles animal shelter manager Lauren Vancouver is busy: 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.

Rescue worker Teresa Kantrim arrives with the dogs. 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 don't earned Teresa any new friends. When she turns up murdered, Lauren digs into Teresa’s past and find out who wanted her put down.


My Review:
Teacup Turbulence is a cozy mystery. This book is the fifth in a series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this book didn't spoil the whodunit of a previous books.

This book was primarily about the making and marketing of upscale pet collars and the animal shelters' teacup dog adoption efforts. The author did a good job of describing these features and created an interesting story around them.

The heroine did a better job (compared to the previous book) at asking good questions to uncover clues to the murderer, so the reader could guess whodunit from the clues. However, Lauren's main method of identifying the murderer still seems to be asking every suspect (even her friends) if they did the murder in the hopes of getting a confession...or an attempt on her life. When that didn't work, she set up a decent trap. In a sense, this is more of a suspense novel than a puzzle-mystery.

There were no sex scenes. There was a minor amount of explicit bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this novel to dog lovers or those who are interested in these aspects of the pet industry.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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