Standing Dead
Margaret Mizushima
March 7, 2023

Mattie Cobb returns to us as Mattie Wray, taking her father’s name. She is visiting Pueblo del Sol in Mexico with her sister, Julia making a visit with her mother, Ramona. When they reach her home they find a stranger answering the door. Her mother has left with her step-father, Juan Martinez. The woman explained that Maria, as Ramona has come to be known, left without reason or contact info. The sisters were beside themselves. Had their mother been discovered by the men who kidnapped Mattie as a child?
Back in Timber Creek, Colorado Dr. Cole Walker eagerly anticipated Mattie’s return, as did her K-9 partner, Robo. Being the only vet in the area his time was busy, however today he planned to quit early and prepare for his fiance’s homecoming.
Standing Dead will be published on March 7, 2023 by Crooked Lane Books. I appreciate their allowing me to read and review Margaret Mizushima’s latest episode of the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series via NetGalley. I have read the entire series. Standing Dead is #9 and I could not put it down. Her writing is excellent, suspense is chilling - very much enjoy the way her characters are family oriented. Her storylines include outstanding landscape descriptions and animal info. All of these make the reader become involved in her plot. Those who enjoy the series will snap this one up. New to Mizushima? She writes incredible, stormy suspense in cozy mystery style. Do enjoy!

Standing Dead is the eighth book in Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series. So much suspense, mystery, and intrigue as Deputy Mattie Wray looks into the cold case of her father’s murder from thirty years ago. She has help from her colleagues, her fiancé, and her K-9 partner, Robo. The situation turns very tense when her mother and sister are kidnapped. The twists and turns made this an action packed book and hard for me to put down. A lot of questions were answered about Mattie’s past. Even though it can be read as a standalone, I recommend the entire series. I love these books!

Lots of threads wrap up in this eighth book in the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series. Mattie Wray and her recently met sister Julia go to a small town in Mexico where there mother has been hiding from the gang that murdered her husband and kidnapped her and her children when Mattie was two. But Mattie and Julia find that their mother and her husband hve fled again, leaving them disappointed.

When Mattie returns to her job as a Colorado Sheriff's Deputy and K-9 officer, she finds a note on her door saying that she'll find him among the standing dead. She alerts the sheriff and grabs her K-9 Robo and heads up to the high country to find out who "he" is.

Discovering the dead body of her mother's husband begins a hunt for her missing mother and leads to more notes and more kidnappings. Meanwhile, her fiancé veterinarian Cole Walker is dealing with cases of selenium poisoning up in the same high country and with canine coronavirus closer to home.

With Mattie as the target of a murderer who was part of the original gang that killed her father, the rush is on to finally unravel that plot and save her mother and sister's lives.

Excellent addition to an engaging series. I really enjoy Mattie's relationship with her K-9 Robo.

Standing Dead is an intriguing story with a cold case that comes to a family's kidnapping . Hard to follow with no names and a child's repressed memory. Lots of clues to unravel. Enjoyable.

Book eight of this strong, enjoyable and very readable series finds Mattie Wray on the precipice of avenging the family trauma that made her childhood an extremely difficult one. Two books back (Hanging Falls) Mattie at last reunited with her long lost sister; in the previous installment, Striking Range, she reunites with her mother. As this book opens, she and her sister are heading to Mexico to see their mother together, but when they arrive, she and her husband have vanished.

There’s quite a bit of backstory to wade through at the beginning of the book. To set the stage for a new reader, Mattie is an officer in the Timber Creek, Colorado, police department, where she works with her K-9 companion, Robo, who always has a key role in the stories. Mattie is involved (and on the verge of marrying) the local vet, Cole, and his veterinary work and family are part of the strong backstory of the novels that ground the books, making them pack an emotional and relatable punch.

As I had missed the last novel I had a bit of catching up to do, but when Mizushima launches the story that powers this novel it was hard to stop reading. She uses two threads. One involves the apparent poisoning of two horses and one involves the “standing dead” of the novel. The horse story involves Cole; the other story, Mattie. The standing dead are the trees in the Colorado forest that have been decimated by insects, and they are literally “standing dead” in a ghost forest. The other standing dead, of course, is a dead body lashed to a tree, the body turning out to be Mattie’s missing stepfather. And worse, there’s a note on his body, specifically threatening Mattie.

As Mattie and the other officers clear the campground where the body was found, Mizushima sets up a nice pool of suspects for the reader. She writes kick ass action novels, but she’s also – like Lee Child or Sara Paretsky – a mystery writer, and her mysteries are well constructed and thought out, the action tied to the detection work taken on by Mattie and Robo. As violent incidents mount and more letters are found, there’s a ticking clock element to the story, one that’s accelerated when it’s clear Mattie’s sister has also disappeared.

As Mattie gets closer to a solution – and much closer to personal danger – the situation nicely illuminates the relationship and depth of commitment between her and Cole, and as always, the depth of the relationship between Mattie and Robo. Robo finds the first body and he continues to be invaluable, discovering clues where human eyes have failed. When the ultimate ending to the story involves extreme peril to Mattie herself, I promise you your fingers will be glued to the pages as you keep turning them to find out what happens. A page turner and a good mystery – that’s what I call a great read.

A intriguing, suspenseful and intense page turner about Deputy Mattie Cobb and her dog Robo solving the mystery of her family.
Mattie has her hands full trying to figure out what is going on. With the help of the Timber Creek Police Department, she hopes to get answers as fast as she can.
I have to say I haven’t read the previous books in the series. I had no problem reading Standing Dead but will definitely be getting the rest of the series to read as soon as I can.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Mattie Wray and Julia (her sister) go to visit their mom who has been hiding in Mexio. When they get there, they find that she and her husband left without telling anyone where. A note is stuck Mattie’s door, her family’s past is catching up with them, and the race is on to find her mom.
Mattie, K9 partner Robo, and the rest of the Timber Creek Police Department are up to the task.
As always a great pleasure to read Mizushima’s books – the details, storyline, .. all top notch. And don’t be scared off by starting at book 8, in no time you will be caught up, and wanting to read the previous ones.

I LOVE THIS SERIES!!! Yeah, I know, I’ve said that before, but it has just become such an interesting and wonderful series with great characters and exciting stories. Personally, the books would not work well as standalones, at least for me they wouldn’t. Every book delves more and more into Mattie’s background and history and while there are updates in every book, I truly believe a reader needs to start the series from the beginning to enjoy the whole story and not miss out on any details. JMHO😊

Anyway, the book summary lays out the beginning of the story and the primary storyline of finding Mattie's mother that has gone missing along with her husband, and the discovery of a dead body along with threatening notes being left on the bodies for Mattie. There is a lot going on in this book so there are other storylines as well. In the early part of the story, Cole gets involved because horses were poisoned by a water trough near the crime scene and a friend of Mattie’s is shot investigating a campsite near the crime scene as well as several suspicious campers and locals who become persons of interest.

Then in the second half of the story, the killer(s) start threatening, terrorizing, and abducting people Mattie loves. Mattie and the team come up with a plan to go after the killer(s) and it’s a very dangerous plan for Mattie. The conditions in the mountains are treacherous and it gets really scary and intense for Mattie and the team and Mattie’s family that kept me on edge from page to page. It was a late night finishing the book because I could not go to sleep until I knew how the story ended.

MY FAVE BOOK IN THE SERIES!!! I can’t wait to read the next installment to see Mattie get her HEA! Mizushima is a good writer and a wonderful storyteller. The characters she creates are interesting, complex and flawed and the environments and locales she builds are beautiful yet unpredictable and risky.

On another note, I’m curious though why Mattie’s old name is still being used in the book summaries of numerous websites. In the previous book, she changed her last name to her biological name, Wray, and in this installment, everyone is starting to use that name as well. It’s not like the series is named after Mattie that her name change would affect the series recognition or identity on the internet or social media.

Just something that I was wondering about, and think should be addressed in future series installments. I know the author doesn’t have any control over book summaries, but I would think that the publishers do and would be more cognizant of that. What do I know though? I’m not a publisher; I’m just an avid reader and a fan of the series😊

I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

@NetGalley @CrookedLaneBooks @StandingDead

The Timber Creek series is perfect for fans of police procedurals with working dogs. Mattie Cobb/Wray is a K-9 handler in Colorado. Returning from a trip to Mexico searching unsuccessfully for her mother, she’s immediately drawn into the search for a missing man. The man is found dead and Mattie also realizes he’s her mother’s husband.
Mizushima does a wonderful job giving detailed explanations of both search techniques and veterinary practices. Unlike some books about working dogs for which the dog seems more of a prop, this one fully incorporates the dog as a main character in the story. I love how Mizushima understands the comfort a dog can provide - how even ruffling their fur or putting forehead to forehead can calm a person.
The story moves at a steady pace and I was pleased there was no OTT ending. It kept me engaged as the villain is determined to go after all of Mattie’s family. The story veers between Mattie and Cole’s POV. It was Cole who really tugged at my emotions, his struggle to accept the risks Mattie was willing to take to save her family.
This might work as a stand-alone, but a lot of background will be missing from the reader’s understanding.
My thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this book.

Standing Dead by Margaret Mizushima is book #8 in the Timber Creek K-9 series. In this storyline the past comes back to haunt and terrorize Maddie Wray, K-9 deputy in Timber Creek. It seems what happened when Maddie's father was killed decades ago and Maddie, her brother and her mother were held captive by a member of the criminal gang that killed her father contributed greatly to the present troubles and danger. Lives are on the line so Maddie and her police group have to take extreme measures to save lives. I really like these characters. Maddie and her K-9 Robo have such a special bond. Maddie and her fiance veterinarian Cole Walker make such a great couple. I really enjoyed this "edge-of-your-seat" suspense story. There's plenty of action too!

(4.5) Please excuse the broken record. This series is one that I love. I have either listened or read them all except book 7 and I am going to grab that. Each book can be read as a stand alone, but seeing as how Maddy with her K9 Robo grow, as well as Brody and Stella. Come on, who can' remember the dipsh*t that Brody was in book 1 and how Stella was a detective who didn't really see the big picture. They are each so much more in each book in this series. I do a disservice to all the K9's with just adding "dogs" but each dog is special in their own way. Each book has twists, red herrings and the knowledge that family is what you make it. When Maddie Cobb, now Maddie Wray finds her mom missing in Mexico she comes home to regroup. Arriving home the light sensors do not come on and she flashes to a previous instance where that happened. Buckle in guys, it takes off from there. She is gutsy, compassionate, stubborn and loves her job. Come join the band wagon of Timber Creek K-9 and share your thoughts! Thank you for the arc! I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions. #standingdead #timbercreekk9 #margaretmizushima #crookedlanebooks #netgalley

We get so many answers in this one! I love Mattie and Robo. This one is extremely personal for our beloved duo. It's action packed and full of suspense. There are several twists. I also really enjoy Cole. He ties with Mattie for my favorite character. I lost some sleep as I just couldn't put this one down!

I really liked this book. It was amazing. It really kept me on my toes. There was not one boring moment in this book. i read this whole book in just a few hours. I enjoyed learning more about Maddie’s family as she uncovered more about their past

I started reading the Timber Creek mysteries in September of 2020. I soon learned Mattie and her K-9 partner, Robo, had recently formed a working relationship.

I enjoyed the small-town setting in Colorado, the secondary characters and, of course, a good mystery. Less than 4 weeks later I was finishing the sixth story, Hanging Falls. I am only mentioning this because you need to read the series in order. If not, you won't enjoy the books as much.

Mattie not only finds love just around the corner when she meets Veterinarian Cole Walker, but she also forms various friendships at work. In addition, both Mattie and you, the reader, learn about her childhood. She had plenty of familial baggage and, with each story, you learn more about the trauma she went through earlier in her life.

Striking Range was published in 2021 and, finally, Standing Dead. Mattie found closure. It took a while, hence the four stars. I am not sure if the author will continue with Mattie, Robo and Cole, veer off with one of the secondary characters or start a new series. No matter what, I will be waiting...

<i>Thank you to NetGalley, Margaret Mizushima and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

After her father was killed, Mattie Wray, her mother, and brother were kidnapped when Mattie was only two. Now, in her thirties, Mattie is still trying to put her family together, locating a sister she never knew about, and trying to reunite with her mother. But, when Mattie and her sister, Julia, travel to Pueblo del Sol, Mexico, they learn their mother and her second husband, Juan Martinez, left town abruptly. Mattie returns home to her job as a deputy sheriff and K-9 handler in Timber Creek, Colorado, only to find a note on hr door, "You'll find him among the standing dead", signed "A friend of your father's." When the sheriff's department mount a search, they find the body of Juan Martinez. Now, Mattie is forced to reveal her mother's story. Notes continue to appear, and Mattie's friends are threatened and even shot. Pressure mounts quickly, and she and the supportive law enforcement team know Mattie is the ultimate target for someone who has terrorized her family for thirty years.

Readers who have followed the ongoing storyline of Mattie's family will be waiting for this fast-paced, relentlessly tense finale. If you haven't read the series, it won't be easy to follow the storyline.

Big thanks to both Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Standing Dead!

How I love Deputy Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo!!

Mattie's veterinarian fiancé gets called out to a campground to tend a pair of suddenly sickened horses and discovers they were poisoned with selenium, which could only have been acquired from the horse troughs nearby.

At the same time, Mattie's mom and stepdad have disappeared from where they were living in Mexico. As more people in Mattie's inner circle start disappearing and/or being attacked, it becomes very personal! Can the poisoning of the horses possibly be related?

I loved how Mattie's friends, co-workers, and beloved dog, Robo, banded together in Standing Dead, to work as a solid team. This book is a pulse pounding, tense and satisfying ride that can be read as a stand-alone. I definitely recommend it!

Standing Dead........

Just waiting for their demise. 22 million acres of Lodgepole pines in Colorado standing upright within miles and miles of forest. Some already infested by the Mountain Pine Beetle but still rigid even in their death. It's only a matter of time. Steming the spread is like crime fighting. No guarantees on the outcome.

Deputy Mattie Wray knows that uphill battle. She works for the Timber Creek Police Department in Timber Creek, Colorado as a K-9 Handler. She and her remarkable German Shepherd, Robo, have a long history of saving lives in Timber Creek. Mattie is dedicated to the point of exhaustion at times. That's just how she operates.

Don't get scared off by the #8 in this series. Margaret Mizushima fills in all the backstories nicely and we just spring forward as this reads as a standalone. And don't eye this as a "doggie book". Mizushima is an actual veterinarian herself. She doesn't pull punches here. The crimes in this series are as serious as the headlines today. Cozy is just not happenin'.

It's personal this time for Mattie. She and her sister, Julia, had ventured into a small town in Mexico where her mother, Ramona, and her husband, Juan, were residing. No sign of either of them. The women were told that Ramona and Juan left town in a hurry with no forwarding address. Mattie realizes that the couple must be in danger. Ramona witnessed the murder of her first husbnd, Border Patrol Agent Douglas Wray. The murderers threatened to kill Ramona's daughters who were just children at the time. Mattie fears that they will never find her mother and Juan.

But Mattie soon receives threatening notes in regard to her mother. And then Juan's body is found tied to one of those Standing pines. These maniacs are serious as the next breath.

And eventually Mattie will have to put herself in the scope of these killers in order to save her mother and sister. But is she too late?

Standing Dead is a superb read in the hands of Margaret Mizushima. She knows police work and she knows the ins and outs of veterinarian medicine when we have several horses poisoned in the forest campground. Standing Dead has some of the most hardcore criminals that we've had throughout this series. It's written in real tones with Mizushima guiding this storyline to an intense conclusion. Don't miss it.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to the talented Margaret Mizushima for the opportunity.

campground, Colorado, thriller, suspense, cooperation, procedural, K-9, relationships, family, family-dynamics, friendship, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, murder, attempted-murder, mysteries, veterinarian, poisons, abduction, intense*****

I am addicted to this series.
Deputy Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo find themselves in a mystery that is very personal. Her fiancé is a veterinarian and gets called out to a campground to tend a pair of suddenly sickened horses only to find that they have been poisoned with selenium which can only have been acquired from the horse troughs nearby. Then Mattie and Robo are called out to a stand of dead trees where they discover a dead man tied to a dead tree. That man is the husband of her missing mother (the history of the relationships is defined within the story). Then some valuable puppies are found to have been made ill, possibly also by selenium. Later the dead man is found to have also been poisoned slowly by selenium. Then another K-9 deputy handler is shot and seriously injured. But the next issue is even worse; Mattie's sister has been kidnapped in California and a note is left threatening Mattie. The tension just keeps ratcheting up and law enforcement is stretched beyond their limit.
This is a tense and suspenseful procedural. A really good read!
I requested and received a free EARC from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thanks!

In Margaret Mizushima's eighth installment of her award-winning Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries (Crooked Lane Books 2023), Deputy Mattie Cobb and her sister Julia go to visit their long-separated mother Ramona only to find she and her husband have left her home in Mexico with no forwarding address. Without leads to where she is, Mattie returns to Timber Lake to determine next steps, but the mystery follows her when her mother's husband shows up dead in Mattie’s backyard. On his body is a note to Mattie about more attacks to come and signed as a friend of her father. When Julia also disappears, it is up to Mattie and her working dog partner, Robo, to track down the killer before he brings death to Julia and Ramona or others that Mattie is close to. To do this, she must unravel the decades old mystery around her father's murder.

I’ve enjoyed all the books in this series in large part because Robo is always integral and a respected group member. So why 4/5 for this one? It’s a little slow despite the seriousness of the plot, but not so much I won’t read the next. Recommended to those who like dog stories and strong female leads.

I've enjoyed this entire series and following along with the characters' lives. This newest book continues the same themes. However, the first quarter of the book was very noticeably unsteady - it read as if the author had been told to rewrite the beginning and subconsciously resented it - or had been written by a bad ghost writer The sentences and phrasing in this section were choppy and stilted, totally unlike the last half of the book (or her other books). If this had been my introduction to the series, I would have returned the book and not gone past page 25-30. Please consider reworking this as it was highly distracting and didn't do the story any favors. First quarter = 2 stars. Last three quarters = 4 stars.