Timber Creek K-9 Mystery book 10
Crooked Lane Books
October 2025
Dying Cry by Margaret Mizushima has action, intrigue and suspense. There is murder, a police investigation, family relationships/dynamics, and some information about veterinarians.
“Mattie has moved into the home. Mattie has achieved her goal that was stated in book one of the series, to have a family. She has been searching and has found her own family in past books. She has love for Cole and his children. She sees her role as becoming their stepmom. Because their biological mother is not available in their lives and has neglected the relationship with them it is even more important to Mattie to be that mother for the girls. She must learn to gauge her stepdaughters’ emotions.”
The plot begins when the Walker family of Cole, Sophie, Angie, and now Mattie are out snowshoeing and hear a scream. Cole takes the girls back to the resort while Mattie and her K-9 Robo go to investigate. Robo finds a trail and Mattie can see a body at the base of a cliff, but a landslide covers it before Mattie can get there. When uncovered, it becomes obvious the person is dead. An investigation of the canyon rim indicates the fall wasn’t an accident, so Mattie calls in the Timber Creek County team, Sheriff McCoy, Chief Deputy Brody and Detective Stella LoSasso to help with the investigation.
To make matters worse, the victim was one of Cole’s friends, his vet assistant Tess’s husband, Tom. Tom works at the local bank and was at a team building event with some other bank staff, while Tess came along on a mini vacation.
As the investigation takes shape it becomes apparent that quite a few people had a possible motive and could have committed the murder. The more the sheriff’s department investigates, the more questions and suspects are considered that include the bank employees, Tom’s wife Tess, and the resort employees.
In addition to having to pursue the culprit, Mattie jumps into her new role as stepmom. She is concerned about the reaction of Cole’s oldest daughter Angie who is having trouble handling all the happened to her, past and present, including her mother abandoning her, losing her best friend, her younger sister kidnapped, and everything that has happened to Mattie.
“Angie is traumatized in this book. She has some fear because of the past murder cases. She saw the danger that Mattie faced in Standing Dead and Gathering Mist. She has had a fear since the kidnapping of her younger sister in Hunting Hour. It has been accumulative for her with the fear she has about her family staying safe. She has anxiety, stress, and has put her emotions inward. In this book danger comes close to home where Cole and she are put in a very dangerous situation.”
Throughout the book the reader feels engaged. This complex gripping plot has many twists and turns, lots of suspense, and a few surprises.
