Karma’s a Killer by Tracy Weber

Summary from Amazon:

     When Seattle yoga teacher Kate Davidson agrees to teach doga (yoga for dogs) at a fundraiser for a local animal shelter, she believes the only damage will be to her reputation. But a few downward-facing dogs are the least of Kate’s problems when an animal rights protest at the event leads to a suspicious fire and a drowning.
     The police arrest Dharma, a woman claiming to be Kate’s estranged mother, and charge her with murder. To prove Dharma’s innocence, Kate, her boyfriend Michael, and her German shepherd sidekick Bella dive deeply into the worlds of animal activism and organizational politics. As they investigate the dangerous obsessions that drive these groups, Kate and her sleuthing team discover that when it comes to murder, there’s no place like home.

 

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My Thoughts:

     This is the third installment in the Downward Dog Mystery Series but the first book in it that I have read.  I feel this may have affected my ability to really connect with the main character, Kate, in that I did not know her background and not much “catch up” is given in this book.

     Karma finds Kate teaching doga (yoga for dogs-who knew this was an actual thing?) at a fundraiser for a local animal shelter after her boyfriend, Michael, coaxes her into it. An animal rights protest at the fundraiser leads to a suspicious fire and a drowning. The police arrest Dharma, a woman claiming to be Kate’s estranged mother, and charge her with murder. Although Kate is unsure of her long lost mother, she feels she must help prove her innocence.

     My main issues with Kate is that she tended to be a little wishy-washy in letting people railroad her into doing things by claiming she wanted to be open minded and have good karma…sometimes she took it too far. Another issue is that Kate is a major animal rights supporter but she leaves her special needs German Shepard in the backseat of her car all day? It just struck me as weird.

     By the end of the book I was finally able to connect with Kate and understand her a little better and I really loved her very pregnant and hilarious best friend, Rene. I love yoga and dogs so I thought that I would really enjoy this series and while I liked it, I wouldn’t say I loved it (this might be because I did not read books number one and two).  I would definitely like to go back and start the series from the beginning and see how that affects my opinion.

3/5 stars*

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*I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.