Feline Fatale by Linda O. Johnston is the 9th book in the “Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin), July 2010

For L.A. attorney and pet-sitter Kendra Ballantyne, Esq., murders pop up at the most inconvenient times. Forget cats and dogs—the war between pet-lovers and pet-haters is anything but cute and cuddly.

When Kendra visits the condo of her friend and fellow pet-sitter Wanda, she sets off a squabble over the building’s animal policy. One week later, Wanda discovers anti-pet board member Margaret Shiler dead in her apartment. The only witness to this catastrophic crime is Lady Cuddles—an escape artist of a cat who’s always sneaking out of her owner’s apartment and straight into trouble.

Of course, Margaret has enemies—an ex-husband, a disgruntled contractor—but the police have Wanda in their sights. Kendra begins sniffing around for the real killer, but her sexy beau, pet supply magnate Dante DeFrancisco, wants her to stay out of harm’s way—maybe even settle down with him. Torn between love and loyalty, Kendra needs to find a way to clear her friend’s name without losing the man of her dreams.

Just doing a favor for a fellow pet-sitter and things run amok. A cat that slips out. A neighbor who hates pets. These are the thing confronting Kendra when she looks in on her friend’s charges. When her friend becomes the primary suspect in said pet-hater’s death, Kendra doggedly jump into finding the killer, while trying to stay out of harm’s way. This was an quick read and light fare that satisfied my reading pleasure. My rating: 4 stars