The Telltale Turtle

Tonight I finished reading The Telltale Turtle by Joyce & Jim Lavene.  I discovered these authors when I bought one of their books at an Arlington County Library book sale.  That book was part of the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery series.  I really enjoyed it.  I've read the first two books in that series, and have the rest on hold at the Arlington library.  I was searching the Alexandria Library online catalog and discovered another book by the same authors, The Telltale Turtle, touted as a Pet Psychic Mystery.

I hate to say it, but I was pretty disappointed in this book.  I didn't buy into the characters the way I did with the Garden Mystery series.  I hung in there till the end, but it was a bit of a struggle.  If I hadn't know the books were all by the same author, you probably couldn't have convinced me on your own. 

The main character is Mary Catherine, a pet psychic with a syndicated radio talk show.  She also operates an animal clinic, and works to find homes for needy animals.  Her cat Baylor is my favorite character in the book.  There is a murder (it is a Mystery, after all) and Mary Catherine is drawn to the scene by a distressed turtle, who was a witness to the murder.  I read a lot of mysteries, and a lot of fantasy.  This book seemed to try and blend the two a bit.  Unfortunately, I do not think they were very successful.  I think in the future I'll stick to the Garden Mystery series.