Karma's a Killer (A Downward Dog Mystery)

Karma’s A Killer by Tracy Weber is the third book in the Downward Dog series. I requested to review this book as I believed it was unnecessary to read the series in order as each book focuses on a different mystery. However, on completing this installment I feel it would have been best if I had read the books in order, as this would have provided me with better insight into the development of the main character.

This book failed my expectations. When I hear the term cozy mystery, I am expecting a small town mystery mixed with humour and served with a side of romance/love interest. Well, humour permeated the story, the love interest had developed significantly, but the mystery was severely lacking. This installment focused on the show more principles of yoga and the drama surrounding the characters while the murder mystery played a minor role in the whole scheme of things. There was so much yoga in this book that even the dogs were learning yoga.

My favourite character was not the protagonist but her best friend Renee who was the life of the story. She had me in stitches for most of the story. I enjoyed watching Kate build a relationship with her mother even though it was not under the best of circumstances. There were instances, however, when I found Kate’s actions frustrating. Her refusal to communicate with her boyfriend about issues, which affected her and would ultimately affect their relationship.

Despite it playing a minor role, I thought it was well done. Figuring out the identity of the villain did not come easy. I figured it out the same time Kate and Renee did, which occurred near to the end of the story.

I took some time to get through the story. I believe this was due to the slow pacing and the minor role the solving of the mystery played in the story. Added to that, the yoga principles and terms went over my head.

Narration
This is my first time listening to Anne James and I would definitely listen to her again. She did a great job in bringing the characters to life. Her narration of the characters’ voices were distinct, making it easy to identify each of the characters.

Conclusion/Recommendation
Overall, I found this to be an average read, but I believe it could have been much better. Fans of cozy mysteries may want to try this book. show less

Karma's a Killer by Tracy Weber is the third book in A Downward Dog Mystery series. Kate Davidson owns Serenity Yoga. She has agreed to teach a Doga (yoga with dogs) session at Paws Around Green Lake (her boyfriend organized the event). On her way to teach the class, Kate overhears two women arguing by the lake. Kate eavesdrops and then continues on. Her session does not start off well because one woman brought her pet rabbit (in a room full of dogs). Kate tries to get her to leave, but the woman refuses (states it will be fine). Well, (as you can expect) the dogs take off after the rabbit and chaos reigns. Then someone starts a fire nearby and protestors descend. The proceeds from the event were to go to the local animal shelter DogMa. show more The protestors are from California and one of them is actually related to Maggie, one of the creators of DogMa. Just when Kate thinks the day cannot get any worse, Dharma (a protestor) comes up to Kate and tells her that she is her mother (that she has not seen in thirty years). The next Raven is found dead by the lake. Raven was on the HEAT protestors (and was arguing before event). Dharma turns out to be the main suspect (with a lot of evidence). Kate sets out to prove her mother’s innocence and find the real killer.

Karma’s a Killer is nonsensical. It drove me crazy. It was over-the-top ridiculous (with one thing after another). There was too much going on in this book. I wanted the focus to be on the murder (the mystery) not on yoga, Bella (Kate’s dog with an EPI condition), birds who steal silver objects, the goat whisperer, Rene (best friend pregnant with twins), Kate’s temper issues, or Tiffany (work with Kate’s boyfriend and Kate feels that Tiffany is trying to steal him away). There was also quite a bit of information on yoga in the book (I had no clue what the author was talking about). I give the book 3 out of 5 stars (it is okay). I was just not the right person for this book. The novel had such a simple mystery (I knew who had done it as soon as they said who was murdered). I think more of the book was devoted to Bella and her condition (along with the special diet she is on) and yoga than to the mystery. The one thing I disliked in the book was the Kate dissed Peeps! She had the nerve to say that they are junk! Can you imagine? The book, though, is nicely written to make it easy to read and enjoy (if you like these types of stories).

I received a complimentary copy of Karma’s a Killer from the author in exchange for an honest review. show less

Tracy Weber's Karma's a Killer is the third in a series of fun, somewhat yoga-related mysteries, though it's the first in the series I've read. Weber gives us enough backstory to make the events here make sense, while still making me curious about the events in the first two novels. Nicely done!

I really liked the appearance here of various animal rescue organizations, wildlife rehabilitation and the crows. Weber was careful to be accurate in all of these.

The murder mystery, though, is somewhat less satisfying. I don't want to spoil it, but the explanation in the end seemed less than adequate to me.

Weber does have skill in writing even secondary characters that pop off the page. I very much enjoyed all of them, and she did a good job show more keeping them all separate, with diverse agendas.

This book is recommended for fans of cozy mysteries, especially if one is tired of the protagonists in such being doormats.

I received this book in exchange for writing an honest review. show less

Despite having the murderer at the top of my suspect list, this was a great mystery. Kate is juggling Bella's problems, sick pigeons, Michael's father being ill, Tiffany being nasty, her birth mother showing up and on top of that, a local animal shelter's owner is found dead. With friend Rene heavily pregnant and on a junk food binge, will Kate find the killer before it's too late?

This series continues to improve, this one has lots of yoga starting with dog yoga, along with good doses of yoga the mystery revolves around animal rescue. I'd recommend this to animal lovers, yoga enthusiasts and any interested in wildlife rehabilitation or dog lovers always a large dose of dogs in this series.

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