I love books with K-9 in them and this Blurb thrilled me. The story had a local man shot, with his van set on fire. Deputy Matte Cobb and team started investigating. Her K-9 Robo found the clues which led to a shocking reveal about the murderer.

My first book by this author, I loved the bond between Mattie and Robo. This was my first book with these characters, yet I was entranced with it. The book had murder, investigation, a predator on the prowl, romance, a cohesive team which my thriller heart sing with joy.

It kept to its steady pace and was overall a good read.

Officer Mattie Cob and her K-9 partner Robo are back investigating the murder of Nate Fletcher. Everyone knows everyone in the small town of Timber Creek, Colorado…why would anyone want to shoot Nate who runs an outfitter business taking clients on fishing trips? Mattie is still coming to terms with her childhood trauma and her feelings for Cole Walker, divorced father of two girls and town veterinarian. When another body is found, shot with the same caliber and attacked by an unknown large animal, the hunt is on for the killer and the animal. Mattie will have to rely on Robo and her knowledge of the mountains to catch the killer. Was Nate’s business more than just about fishing? Was his need for money causing him to take risks that got him killed? Another suspenseful adventure with Mattie and her team taking on a killer and the rugged terrain before another life is lost. I have read and enjoyed the entire Mattie Cobb series and eagerly look forward to the next one. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

Nice, simple beach read. No complex string of characters. K9 murder mystery done very well. The author has obviously spent a lot of time outdoors as she is able to virtually take into the field as the story unfolds.

“Tracking Game” is the fifth book in Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series. The series revolves around Timber Creek, CO, a small town up in the Rockies. Mattie Cobb, a deputy in Timber Creek and her trusted K-9 partner, Robo are thrust into another murder mystery when the town is rocked by an explosion. She and Cole Walker, the town veterinarian, rush to the scene where they discover that a van exploded. The driver’s body was pulled from the vehicle where the cause of death was determined to be two shots inflicted at close range. As Mattie works to piece together the mystery, someone else ends up dead. Mattie and Robo discover the 2nd victim up in the mountains where they encounter a frightening sound, one Mattie has never heard before. Her first instinct was that it was a cougar; but this wasn’t the typical scream of a cougar. Although the two victims knew each other, what was the motive and who killed them? Unexpected twists were added to the story, which makes “Tracking Game” well worth the read. I highly recommend this book, another excellent addition to the series!

Tracking Game is a great suspense. The plot is fast paced and has many twists and turns. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to the publisher for my advance ebook. This is my unbiased review.

I love this series. Definitely one of my favorites. Love the relationship Mattie shares with her K-9 partner Robo.

Very well written and keeps you guessing. Definitely recommend if you love books with police dogs.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy.

An explosion and Mattie and Cole Walker’s friend, Garrett Hartman, is hurt but also Nate Fletcher has been shot.

Deputy Mattie Cobb is working for Timber Creek County Sheriff’s Department. Mattie grew up as a foster child and is hopeful of reconnection with her family through DNA ancestry. Police patrol dog, Robo, has become Mattie’s best friend and protector.

Murder, mystery and love are well built in this crime whodunit with many twists to the end. An exciting page turner.

Description
Two brutal murders, a menacing band of poachers, and a fearsome creature on the loose in the mountains plunge Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo into a sinister vortex.



An explosion outside a community dance sends Mattie Cobb and Cole Walker reeling into the night, where they discover a burning van and beside it the body of outfitter Nate Fletcher. But the explosion didn't kill Nate--it was two gunshots to the heart.



The investigation leads them to the home of rancher Doyle Redman, whose daughter is Nate's widow, and the object of one of their suspect's affection. But before they can make an arrest, they receive an emergency call from a man who's been shot in the mountains. Mattie and Robo rush to the scene, only to be confronted by the ominous growl of a wild predator.



As new players emerge on the scene, Mattie begins to understand the true danger that's enveloping Timber Creek. They journey into the cold, misty mountains to track the animal--but discover something even more deadly in Tracking Game, the fifth installment in Margaret Mizushima's Timber Creek K-9 mysteries.



My thoughts

Rating: 5

This is my first time reading anything by this author and I'm so glad I request this book to read and review , its the type of book I like to go to , where its a mystery, a littler romance ( that doesn't take away from the story) , and that the main characters are either police or search and rescue that work with an animal partner.This story had me hooked from the story and I actually read it in a day , I just couldn't put it down , the author's characters came to life before my eyes and I had to know what was going on, what was going to happening next and who doing it and why, I loved the team work between Mattie and Robo , and loved how Mattie felt about Cole and his daughters , anyone who loves animals will love this series and will want to read it to the very end , so much so that I now want to read books 1-4 of this series , With that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it .

A killing, a K-9 investigation, and a romantic commitment
Deputy Sheriff Mattie Cobb and her beau, veterinarian Cole Walker, are enjoying a Celebration of Summer community dance when their evening is interrupted by an explosion that calls Mattie and her K-9 partner Robo back onto duty. They find a burning vehicle that was the source of the explosion and the lone occupant dead, not from the explosion itself but from two shots through the chest. They also find Cole’s best friend, who had stopped to try to rescue the victim, severely injured. Nate Fletcher, the murder victim, lived with his wife Kasey on her family’s ranch, where they had an outfitting business taking people on hunting and fishing trips in the area. Nate’s family struggle to hold their business together as they grieve their loss, while Mattie and Robo and the rest of the Timber Creek County Sheriff’s Department work to uncover who killed Nate Fletcher and why. It seems everyone involved with Nate is hiding something, but which secret led to murder?
I like to think of the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series as police procedurals on four feet. For me and many other readers our favorite part of the books is the Mattie-Robo relationship. Incidents in Mattie’s early life make many of her relationships with humans difficult, but there is no problem at all in her commitment to Robo. Mattie clearly loves Robo, and Robo loves both Mattie and his job. In addition to portraying the warm relationship between the two, there are fascinating details about how a forensically trained K-9 operates. For example, Mattie always gives Robo a drink of water before he goes off to follow a scent, because it sharpens a dog’s olfactory ability, and she uses different harnesses or collars, such as a narcotics detection collar, to signal to him what kind of task he is to perform.
The evocation of the setting in rural Colorado is an important element in the series. This element gets a new edge in Tracking Game from the roar of a wild animal that doesn’t quite sound like a cougar….
Like the previous books in the series, Tracking Game has a gripping suspense-filled plot. Nonetheless, this is definitely a character-driven series. If you have not read the earlier books, I strongly recommend you begin with the first book so you can come to know and care about the characters, their lives, and their relationships.
The development of the romantic relationship between Mattie and Cole is the biggest character-driven theme of the series. Tracking Game devotes more attention to it than any of the earlier books, which will no doubt delight many readers and annoy others. It is difficult for someone who has not had the abuse Mattie suffered in childhood to relate fully to the emotional scars such victims carry, but there were times when I felt she was overreacting and wished for less coverage of her internal struggles.
As the book ends, Mattie receives some new information about her past and eagerly shares it with Cole, a good sign of her commitment. No doubt these two topics, plus a new mystery, will be explored further in the next book.
My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance review copy of this book.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Tracking Game is the next book in Margaret Mizushima's Timber Creek K-9 series. In this installment Mattie Cobb and her canine partner, Robo, are working to find the person who has committed two murders. Solving the crime feels personal to her as everyone knows the two victims.
Mattie and Robo are a good team. They have trained extensively to work together and they are able to locate clues, track people and make arrests. They protect one another. And I really enjoyed this glimpse into small-town-Colorado culture, history and justice. And to add to the fun-factor in this book they are also tracking an extremely dangerous, and unexpected predator. This part of the book was a lot of fun to read and I kept thinking about the what-ifs. I live in the mountains of Colorado so this portion of the story was not a stretch of my imagination. I found it believable ... it could happen. And it was both scary and exciting to read for that reason.

But the best part of this book, for me, was the details that Mizushima put into the descriptions of how canine police officers are trained, and how they live. It made me feel as though I know much more about this part of the justice system. It was intriguing and felt authentic. For example, Mattie uses different collars and vests on Robo to give him the clue about whether he is focusing on drug detection, people searching or locating clues. This was fascinating and I loved it.

I did wish that I had started the series at the beginning as there were obvious relationships that were formative for Mattie. And there were past crimes that affected both woman and dog. I will be looking to locate copies of the previous books very soon.

I want to thank Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was an interesting read. A standalone mystery, you really don’t have to read the rest of the series to get the gist, and it doesn’t give spoilers for the last few books in the series either, or at least not that I noticed. I liked it, overall, especially the dog.

It starts off with a literal bang-romance in the air, when a date is abruptly canceled when an explosion rocks nearby, killing one person…but it wasn’t due to the van exploding, it was two bullets to the chest. CPR definitely wasn’t going to revive that poor fella.

It goes on from there, tracking down who killed them, and there’s lots of hiking, mystery, twists and turns and overall plenty of goodness to be had within these pages. I’m terribly at writing reviews for mystery novels, can you tell? My problem is that I really don’t want to give away all the details, because I like going into mysteries blind with only a few things to guide me into if I want to read this or not. Or I pick the book because of the cover without realizing it’s part of a series. Lol, whoops.

Regardless, I highly recommend this one. It’s good, it’s not too long, and it’s not overly descriptive on either. There’s plenty of action to be had, and the characters are good enough that it almost seems like you’re standing there with them as they’re running for their lives.

4/5 stars.

A local man has been shot and his van set on fire, and it’s up to Deputy Mattie Cobb and her team to find the murderer and, perhaps more importantly, to find out the reason for the crime. Her police dog partner, Robo, finds clues, which lead to a shocking revelation about a popular local family. I am confident that readers who enjoy mysteries with animals will love this one, but I also recommend Tracking Game for anyone who enjoys a well-plotted mystery with great characters.

I love Margaret’s writing. She is such a great storyteller that you can smell the storms and hear the mountain lions and tiger snarling. That is the mark of a great writer to be able to paint such a vivid picture with words. I love the characters in this series and definitely want to see more of Mattie and Robo. I can not say enough good things about this book. Absolutely loved it

I couldn't get past a very few chapters in this. The writing was not flowing for me.. The story seemed disjointed and too simplistic.

This is the fifth book in the Mattie Cobb series and I recommend starting with book one in this very good mystery series. Mattie and her canine companion Robo, are tasked with solving two murders. Throw in the developing relationship between Mattie and Cole giving the author another winner. I just love Robo and the strong descriptive passages which transport me right into Timber Creek. My thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Murder in rural Timber Creek, Colorado. Violent poachers. A ‘creature’ on the loose. Old money ranch family. Cop Mattie Cobb and her K-9 Robo plus veterinarian Cole Walker (who’s patiently waiting for Cobb to return his affections) get pulled into a curious swirl of conflicting rumors and puzzling evidence.

Now the premise had potential, but the further I went into this story (the 5th Timber Creek K-9 mystery), that voice in my head kept telling me this sounded a lot like a Hallmark Murder and Mystery product. I’ll admit that I do enjoy the occasional Hallmark Channel movie and when committed, I’m in for the full 2hrs (w/ commercials). But not when I’m reading. If I’m going all in for a week or two, it’ll be more on my terms and less the Hallmark flavor of the month. Having said that, readers who truly love Hallmark movies will no doubt find this an enjoyable escape.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
I didn't realize this was the fifth in a series and it's not always easy to jump into something already established, but I found that The Tracking Game was easy to slide right into. I always love books involving the relationship between dogs and humans.

I have read other K-9 stories in this series and have enjoyed them. This was not an exception. There are no super heroes, shoot-em-ups, bombs or explosions. Just a murder mystery that Robo helps resolve. Interesting way to solve a mystery. Robo the K-9 is an interesting addition. Just like the other books in this series, I highly recommend it.

"Tracking Game" is a K9-detective mystery/suspense. It's the fifth in a series. You can follow this book without reading the previous ones, and this book didn't spoil the previous mysteries. It's another satisfying, suspenseful mystery with the Timber Creek police (and friends).

Robo is a talented, well-trained working dog, and it's always fun to see him "on the job" with Mattie. The main characters were likable and had depth and complexity. Events had a realistic impact on them, and they had to (maturely) deal with relationship struggles at the same time as they dealt with crime. The crime was a clue-based mystery, and whodunit wasn't obvious until the last clues were uncovered at the end. Suspense was created from physical danger and relationship conflicts.

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

This is a series I really enjoy, and I felt like the writing went up a notch in this one (not that the writing was problematic before, but this did feel a little more subtle and skilled). There's just the right balance of series arc and book arc, and I'm always rooting for Mattie and Robo. Can't wait for the next entry!