Sit, Stay, Slay

This promising mystery debut features a puzzling mystery, a cute King Charles spaniel and a sunny Los Angeles setting.

Only in L.A. would a place called the "Doggy Indulgence Day Resort" be considered normal. For lawyer Kendra Ballantyne, who has lost almost everything in a scandal, including her license to practice, the doggy spa offers a chance at employment.

Kendra's first dog-sitting job is for P.I. Jeff, who, when he makes rare appearances at home, heats up Kendra's romantic fantasies. Kendra finds herself needing Jeff's investigative skills when she finds a client murdered. As the most likely suspect, Kendra takes to sleuthing to save her own skin. Soon troubles past and present intersect in ways that could lead Kendra directly to show more jail, unless she can unmask the person who's out to steal her freedom, and maybe even her life.

The brisk momentum of this clever plot, coupled with a surprising conclusion, will satisfy even the most jaded armchair detective show less

I will give her some artistic leeway on the proper care of ball pythons and other reptiles as it's rather relevant to the plot, but GAHHHHHH. As a former reptile breeder and hobbyist who has bred pythons of various species...it's like she did half the research, some of it very well, and some of she threw out!

Otherwise, the mystery elements are very good.

While this couldn't be described as a very deep book it does bring up some interesting points, what happens to people when they lose cases, particularly when the issues aren't necessarily obvious.
Kendra Ballantyne was a high flying litigator until scandal brought her down, now she works as a pet-sitter. When some of her clients start dying she's an obvious suspect. Fans of Janet Evanovich will like this, excepting that Johnson has given us only one choice for her main character, and it looks like she's rolled both of Evanovich's love interests into one.
Fun and undemanding.

A bit of wonderful fluff. This book has an engaging heroine, Kendra Ballantyne, who lost her attorney's license and to make ends meet decides to pet-sit.
Of course murder intrudes and she must find the killer before she is accused of the crime. Another murder, engaging characters , and a good plot make this an enjoyable first-in-a-series book.
Lighthearted and fun!

What a cute idea for a mystery series. Protagonist Kendra Ballentine is a lawyer on suspension, and she needs a way to keep food on the table so she starts pet-sitting. She thinks it will be a less stressful, less high-profile job, and it is until someone kills one of her clients. Back into the media spotlight she goes as the number one suspect.

This is a nice start to a series. Not only was it fun, it made sense and the mystery was well-maintained until the end.

Sorry to say that I didn't enjoy this book.. The story itself was pretty good, but I found that it just didn't flow right for me. And it didn't have that "Cozy" feel which I thought it was going to have.. there were a lot of legal terms and boring parts for me.