Dying Cry

It’s still winter in Colorado’s high country as the suspenseful Dying Cry by Margaret Mizushima gets started. This is the tenth book in the exhilarating Timber Creek K-9 mystery series featuring Timber Creek Deputy Mattie Walker, her K-9 partner Robo, and her new husband Cole Walker.

While teaching Cole’s daughters Sophie and Angie to snowshoe, they hear a terrible scream. Mattie and Robo go deeper into the canyon at the resort to search for the source while Cole and the girls walk to get a cell phone signal and help. Mattie and Robo spot a figure at the base of a cliff, but a rockslide buried the person before they can provide help. When uncovered, the person is dead. An investigation of the canyon rim indicates the wall wasn’t an accident. The Timber Creek County investigative team springs into action, but it will test Mattie and her new family in multiple ways.

Mattie is protective, a perfectionist, disciplined, and focused on training. Robo has taught her to trust again. She’s still trying to understand the boundaries of being a step-parent. Cole is big on procedures and has a good sense of humor. Robo loves to work and hates when he can’t go somewhere with Mattie. The family also has two other dogs, Bruno and Belle, and a cat named Hilde. While there are new characters, many of the characters have been in previous books in the series including Sheriff McCoy, Chief Deputy Brody, and Detective Stella LoSasso. Since the death occurs at Ponderosa Pines Resort, the resort employees have key roles in the story as well.

The author does a great job of making the reader feel engaged from the initial chapter to the end. The writing flows well and is descriptive without slowing the pacing. The story is captivating and the character development is wonderful. This tale kept my attention with a fast-paced and clever plot with a few twists. The subplots tied together well and there was good pacing from scene to scene. It’s full of action, intrigue, romance, and mystery with themes of murder, police investigations, veterinary procedures, family relationships and dynamics, and more. My only quibble was one of Mattie’s roles near the end of the book. I’m not sure she would have been allowed to take on that role in real life. However, this is a small police department and time was critical so I went along with it.

Overall, this is a clever and suspenseful mystery with compelling characters, a great sense of place, and tense moments throughout the story. I’m looking forward to reading more of this series. Although this is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading the entire series to enjoy the characters’ growth over time. This is the fourth book that I have read about Mattie, Robo and Cole. They seem like old friends, and I can’t wait to read the other books in this series. If you love police investigations and are a dog lover or just enjoy an engaging and suspenseful mystery, I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

Crooked Lane Books and Margaret Mizushima provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for October 14, 2025.