This book is the third in a series. I have not read the previous books. It wasn't at all difficult to pick up on who the characters were, but I suspect I missed a few nuances of the backgrounds and relationships between the characters and the details of the small-town setting.

Mattie and her partner Robo are a K-9 pair with the sheriff's office. The book begins with the near-immediate finding (by the dog) of a missing, unfortunately dead, 13-year-old girl. Mattie immediately suspects, about equally, one of the high school boys the girl had been seeing and the girl's father. It is quickly evident that Mattie has some serious childhood abuse baggage, the details of which are not gone into in this book, which clearly colors her view of possible suspects. (Because of the child abuse hinted at, I would caution prospective readers who might be triggered by such.)

Apparently in the earlier books Mattie has begun to develop a relationship with the local veterinarian and his two daughters. In this book she has backed off of this budding relationship, apparently due to the need to deal with her own past baggage. Then one of the daughters disappears, apparently kidnapped.

Robo is the true hero of this piece as his well-trained nose sniffs out the clues that lead the humans toward solving the two cases, the dead girl and the missing one. I learned more than I ever knew before about how trained sniffing dogs work, and it was quite interesting. As for the rest, I won't give anything away.... Overall, I enjoyed the book and had trouble putting it down. I gave it a 4-star rating because I did not find the human heroine particularly likable or compelling.

As Hunting Hour opens, Deputy Sheriff Mattie Cobb and her German shepherd partner Robo are called to help search for a missing teen, Candace Cobb. They find the girl’s body, an apparent victim of homicide by asphyxiation. There are plenty of suspects, including some older teens with whom she had apparently been sexually active but also her father and a strange reclusive bachelor who has been calling Cole Walker, the town veterinarian, daily about problems with his animals. But before Mattie and the rest of the local law enforcement can solve Candace’s murder, another young girl goes missing, and this case is very personal. It is Sophie Walker, Cole’s daughter. Mattie is still trying to work out her feelings for Cole, but there is no doubt that she loves Cole’s daughters, and she is determined to find the girl alive and to bring Candace’s killer to justice.
This is a fine enjoyable suspense tale, although many readers will probably see the solution fairly early. The reactions and interactions of the characters are very convincing, especially the ways in which Mattie’s personal life interfere with her professional objectivity and the honesty with which her co-workers discuss that with her. Some of the minor characters add a nice feeling of small-town warmth, like the motherly Mrs. Gibbs, Cole’s live-in housekeeper.
The best part of the book, though, is Mattie’s relationship with Robo, her loyal partner in work and life. A nice bonus were the little factoids about techniques for working with dogs like Robo, such as pouring water into his bowl at the beginning of a search to moisten his mucus membranes and enhance his scenting ability.
This is the first book I have read in the series. Enough background is provided that I had no trouble picking up the thread, but I also suspect that a lot of the suspense would be spoiled if I went back to read the earlier books. I recommend beginning with book one.
In the Acknowledgments at the end of the book, the author says, “Because of its mental health theme, Hunting Hour is a book of my heart.” Clearly this is a strong personal interest, but the treatment will probably be a bit heavy-handed for many readers; the book opens with Mattie having a therapy session with her psychiatrist as she tries to heal from the abuse she suffered as a child, and it seemed practically everyone was in counseling or psychiatric treatment.
As the book closes, Mattie’s relationship with Cole looks promising but is still unsettled, and the wounds from her childhood abuse are not yet healed. But Mattie knows another kind of therapy, one that seems to give her more peace. She curls up with Robo on his dog bed, and they both go to sleep.

A fun read, giving the reader some insight into how the police use dogs to help in the enforcement of the law. Loved the characters and the story didn't get bogged down by too much description or unnecessary fluff! Will definitely read more of this series.

<b><i>Doggie Detective!</i></b>I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Written by Margaret Mizushima and published by Crooked Lane Books in 2017, this is pretty good Young Adult (YA) fiction.

Mattie Cobb is a K-9 police officer in Timber Creek, Colorado. Her dog, Robo, has been trained to search out and find illegal drugs, and missing people. Although Mattie is the protagonist, she is not a very likable person. She jumps to so many false conclusions that she almost perfectly fits the stereotype of the police. She has been psychologically damaged by an abusive childhood in addition to traumatic events in her adult life. She is receiving therapy, as are several of the characters in the story.

Thirteen year-old Candace leaves her junior high school and never arrives home. It is Robo who finds her. Then, nine year-old Sophie, daughter of the town’s only veterinarian (Cole Walker) gets off her school bus and never reaches her home. There is a romantic interest between Mattie and Cole, but it appears unfulfilled. With one girl missing and another dead, the sheriff, and his staff (including Mattie) dedicate all of their resources to finding a killer and kidnapper, along with the missing girl. As can be expected, Robo solves the crimes and finds everybody being searched for.

The book contains a couple of minor inconsistencies, but is pretty well-written in spite of them. The story is an easy read — especially if you like dogs. Dogs feature prominently in this story. If you like dogs, and if you like YA crime fiction, then this is probably a book for you.

This is book 3 in the timber Creek K-9 Mystery series. I picked this story because it was a police dog book. Mattie is a police office working with her K-9 Robo searching for a missing girl that they find dead. When another girl goes missing it becomes personal as the family is very close to her. I didn't have any trouble following this story since I haven't read the previous books. Mattie has some issues with anger and trusting her instincts but she's working on them with professional help. This was a good police suspense story.

I went into the book not realizing it was a series. Normally that's not an issue for me, but this was one of the few books were it was. There were just a few too many specific references to past murders, events, characters for me to feel like I was missing something, and that was a little off putting. (For example, I guess she had a brother named Willie. It's hard to infer the situation was him. Maybe he was a bad person? Maybe he was complicit in her father's abuse? I don't know since I haven't read any of the other books. So I guess I'd have rather just been told she was estranged from her family because of childhood abuse, and have it left at that.)

Overall though, this was a solid mystery. Loved all of the dog stuff (but I'm guessing anyone who reads these books is a fan of dogs.) I did think it was a bit too heavily weighted on "hunting" versus "investigating." There were some red herrings in there, but they were each thoroughly pursued and eliminated in a methodical way. This meant the book lacked that sense of breathless confusion some mysteries give you where there are multiple clues, suspects and story lines and you can't see how the main character will ever figure it out.

I really love books that have animals as side kicks in solving mysteries and murders. This is the 3rd book in the series but I don’t think I’ve missed much. The Matty has some issues that have to be resolved which I guess I missed in the first 2 books but this book is till good to read. Detective Matty Cobbs is a K-9 officer who is brought in when a young teenager is missing. The book shows that dogs aren’t just feel good things for cops they actually work harder and have more to prove than a human. Loved the mystery and the characters. I would highly recommend this book to all the mystery buffs out there.

I'm so excited that I found a new series of mysteries! I realize this one is #3, but it was a fine entry point to the series, and after finishing this one, I bought the first two.

Detective Matty Cobbs is a K-9 officer who is brought in when a young teenager is missing. I really enjoyed watching the dogs in this book work, and it seemed like a realistic depiction of what scent dogs can and cannot do. The mystery was good, as were the characters. I would highly recommend this to mystery lovers, especially if they also like dogs.

"Hunting Hour" is a K9-detective mystery. It's the third in a series. You can follow this book without reading the previous ones, and this book didn't spoil the previous mysteries.

Robo is a talented, well-trained working dog, and it's fun to see him "on the job" with Mattie. The main characters were likable and had depth and complexity. Events have had a realistic impact on them, and they dealt with personal struggles at the same time they're dealing with crime. Events hit a little close to home for Mattie, and she struggled to stay objective during the investigation.

The crime was a clue-based, puzzle mystery. I guessed whodunit based on those clues, yet it wasn't obvious. There was also the suspense of finding the kidnapped girl before something bad happened to her, as bad things have happened to reoccurring characters in these books.

There were no sex scenes. The was occasional use of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting and exciting mystery.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for a review!

Hunting Hour has the best of both worlds for me; a murder mystery plus a lot of canine activity. Not sure how I managed to miss this series, but I’m glad NetGalley decided to recommend it to me.

This book is number three in a series, which means that there are things alluded to from the first two books in order to flesh out the backstory. These flashbacks piqued my interest and I am going back to read the other books in the series, if only to see how Mattie was doing mentally before the history with her father came to light.

The author is brilliant, painting Mattie’s K9 partner as the only trustworthy companion she has. Despite her emotional issues, Mattie is a great cop. Some of her demons move to the forefront during this investigation, and she struggles to stay neutral and weigh all the evidence equally. Letting your personal history color your opinions is something that many people experience, and I found it refreshing that the story took this turn. Mattie truly wants to do the best she can for the victims, yet she can be blinded by personal issues. The other members of the police department understand what she is going through and are appropriately sympathetic.

There isn’t a lot of rollicking “cop talk” as you would find in a John Sandford book, but the action and suspense held my interest. The author threw in the required red herrings, but to my surprise, I managed to guess who the perpetrator was fairly early in the book. I had a strong suspicion, and was satisfied when it turned out to be who I suspected.

I absolutely loved that one of the main characters was a veterinarian! The animal medicine was true to life, not too gory, and added another dimension to the plot that was refreshing. The romance was part of the backstory, but kept at an acceptable level. (I’m not a fan of mixing mysteries and relationships.)

The inclusion of the animals makes this series stand out. Dogs are the best companions ever, and the human – animal bond shines through on nearly every page. Mizushima’s description of Robo’s facial expressions are perfect! I didn’t know what to expect, as some animal mysteries are written awkwardly; but there was nothing awkward about this one. I felt fully invested in the characters, the dialogue was smooth, and there were no gaping holes in the plot to make me cringe.

Hunting Hour was a great way to spend a few hours, and I look forward to the next adventure of Mattie and Robo.

I thought there were too many sroey lines in the book, but they were all interesting and worthwhile reading so I continued on with it all. To my joy, they all tied together very neatly at the end. Great read!

The Hunting Hour by Margaret Mizushima was a very entertaining read. It is the 3rd in the Timber Creek Mystery series. I zipped right through it. Mattie Cobb is a deputy and she and her K-9 partner Robo find a missing 13 year old girl dead. They with the help of the rest of the Sheriff's Department must work the case to determine the cause of death. In a small community like Timber Creek everyone seems to know everyone and when a second girl goes missing it is local veterinarian Cole Walker's daughter. Mattie is close to Cole Walker and his two daughters and it becomes very personal to her. Mattie must confront some of her own demons (real and imagined) in this mystery. She must follow the clues and not jump to conclusions. Great read and I will probably read more by this author. (ARC)

I had never read Mizushina books before and found this one very interesting. Her experience with dogs is excellent. It was too easy to know the ending of the story though. This is almost like a YA book and not for adults

Mattie, a Sheriff's deputy and her canine sidekick, Robo, are a delight. I loved their close personal and working relationship and the insights into the hard work and patience involved in the training of police dogs. And the incredible intelligence and loyalty of these canines.
Mattie has mental issues, stemming from her childhood, suffering from lack of trust and anger issues, resulting in much anxiety. Robo is a tower of strength and love for her, both in and out of work.
When a young girl is found dead and another one seemingly kidnapped, a frantic hunt is on for the perpetrator. Robo's and Mattie's skills are put to the test and the last quarter of the book is a real treat, very tense...
Mental health is also dealt with, very well and not at all preachy. The author obviously has much empathy regarding the issue.
I really enjoyed this book, can't wait for the next one, as I rush out to get the previous ones. Highly recommended!
Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Wasn't sure what to expect here, but was very happily surprised with this story. Really liked Mattie and her police dog Robo together, and the veterinarian Cole and his two daughters are sweet too. I liked the mystery, and the outside red herrings that were thrown up. I liked learning more about how service dogs work, and I liked that the main characters had flaws. Overall, well written and hard to put down. This is the first book I've read, and it does reference a previous story, so assume this is the 2nd in the series. Still, wasn't lost without reading that one, and look forward to reading more by this author. Highly recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Margaret Mizushima and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced digital copy of Hunting Hour (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery #3) for an honest review.

The story opens up with Mattie speaking with her therapist about trust, when asked who she trusts, Mattie’s response is Robo (her K-9 partner)

Book three brings back familiar characters from the two previous books, as well a few new characters. There is a good plot and an underlying thematic message about mental health (skillfully woven into the storyline, and never preachy). There is a strong emphasis on family, the value of friendship, teamwork, love for animals and the dangers of jumping to conclusions.

I really enjoyed this story; it brought real life issues to the reader’s attention in a safe and thought provoking way. The skill and patience of training a dog for drug detection, or search and rescue and the trust that both handler and dog must have for each other. The value of calling on other’s for help, you don’t have to tackle everything alone.

The plot did include some ripped from the headline topics like child abduction, sexual predators, gambling, and mental health issues and how they can affect one’s thinking or assumptions. None of the topics were used for shock value, or to get readers attention, but rather just part of the overall plot.
Although this book could be read as a standalone, I think the reader will get more out of the story if the books are read in order.

The expected publication date is August 8th 2017

Mattie Cobb and her dog Robo are part of a team of sheriff and deputies that work jobs that Robo can assist. Robo' first job is to find a missing teen. Unfortunately the teen is found too late. But this sets the ability of Mattie and Robo and they way the work.

The story shows how Robo trains for different types of searches. Eventually those skills are going to be required when a child goes missing. The child is not just any child but the daughter of someone close to Mattie's heart.

In addition there are a number of wonderful characters that give the story a warm atmosphere of a close and loving and beloved family. If you like a mystery with some suspense along with characters you will enjoying meeting this is a book for you.

An edge of your seat thriller, Mizushima’s latest novel has deputy Mattie Cobb and K9 officer Robo looking for the murderer of a 13 year old girl. Then another child goes missing, and the search becomes more intense. Nuanced characters and a fast-moving story line make this another winner in this series,

I love the author, her knowledge of K-9s, her veterinary expertise, her methodical, logical, step by step detailing of a police procedural to solve a murder.

And that's the catch: it's methodical.

Punctuation is correct, prose is lucid, story is easy to follow, and somehow, the narrative *voice* that should hook me as a reader just isn't there.

I've highlighted passages to cite as examples, but for now, I just want to get Feedback posted. So many books, so many passages highlighted in my Kindle, so little time.

Mental illness is a theme too often misrepresented in fiction. Kudos to Margaret Mizushima for handling this fairly and honestly, in a compassionate way, not sensational.

Hunting Hour is the third book in the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series written by Margaret Mizushima. We once again meet most of the characters in the Hunting Hour who also appeared in the earlier books and it's always nice to visit with familiar characters. In this case Mattie Cobb and her police dog partner, Robo along with the rest of the Timber Creek Sheriff's Department as well as the local veterinarian Cole Walker and his family appear throughout the book. The author's character development is quite good as she makes each character very realistic. These characters are all really put to the test in this story as it entails the murder of a local young girl and a kidnapping. Mattie, Robo and the rest of the police personnel fairly quickly come up with a list of suspects for the murder but they barely get started in the murder investigation when the kidnapping occurs. As the story progresses the tension grows and the suspense will keep readers on the edge of their seats. This one kept me guessing until close to the end.

Margaret Mizushima also employs splendid research technique on police procedures, especially K-9 procedures as well as veterinarian practices. It's quite impressive. This has become one of my favorite series and I can't wait for the next installment.