Margaret Mizushima is an American author who writes in the mystery, thriller, and crime fiction genres. She is best known for her work on the Timber Creek K-9 book series, featuring such characters as Deputy Matt Cob, Robo, and Cole Walker.
Besides the full-length novels in this series, she has written a short story called Hay Book. It was included in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ anthology Crossing Colfax. Mizushima earned her master’s degree in speech technology. After that, she worked in a hospital as well as her rehabilitation center. She is now assisting her husband with the family’s veterinary clinic.
Mizushima was born in Kansas. She grew up on cattle farms in Colorado and Texas.
Throughout her final year of high school, she volunteered to help a boy with cerebral palsy. She did this by teaching a class planned by her school’s speech counselor, which inspired her to pursue a degree in Speech Pathology.
After selling her rehabilitation clinic, she started learning fiction writing. Mizushima used her knowledge of speech therapy to develop compelling characters. She attributes her writing success to her love of reading crime fiction and watching crime documentaries.
Mizushima lives on a small ranch in Colorado with her husband and daughters.
Margaret Mizushima Books in order
Timber Creek K-9 Mystery
- Killing Trail (2015)
- Stalking Ground (2016)
- Hunting Hour (2017)
- Burning Ridge (2018)
- Tracking Game (2019)
- Hanging Falls (2020)
- Striking Range (2021)
Similar authors
- A.G. Riddle’s The Long Winter features humanity on the brink of extinction. When a NASA team discovers a strange object moving toward the Sun, they try to find out what it is. But the discovery might end life as they knew it.
- FBI K-9 #1 by Sara Driscoll follows a team’s extensive search-and-rescue mission. They need to save the people buried beneath the rubble after a bomb takes down a building in Washington D.C.
See also: Rizzoli And Isles Books in Order.
Most recommended books
- Striking Range (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery, #7) (4.40 Goodreads score)
- Hanging Falls (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery #6) (4.30 Goodreads score)
- Burning Ridge (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery #4) (4.28 Goodreads score)
- Hunting Hour (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery, #3) (4.27 Goodreads score)
- Stalking Ground (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery #2) (4.22 Goodreads score)
Awards
Killing Trail, the first book in the K9 series, was nominated for a Reviewer’s Choice award for Best Debut Mystery. In 2017, the second book was a finalist for the Colorado Book Prize.
Upcoming releases
The next Margret Mizushima book is called Standing Dead. The release date is set for 2023.
Book summaries
Killing Trail (2015)
When a young girl is found dead in the mountains outside Timber Creek, life-long resident Officer Mattie Cobb and her partner, K-9 police dog Robo, are assigned to the case that has rocked the small Colorado town.With the help of Cole Walker, local veterinarian and a single father, Mattie and Robo must track down the truth before it claims another victim. But the more Mattie investigates, the more she realizes how many secrets her hometown holds. And the key may be Cole’s daughter, who knows more than she’s saying.The murder was just the beginning, and if Mattie isn’t careful, she and Robo could be next. Suspenseful and smart, Killing Trail is a gripping read that will have readers clamoring for more Mattie and Robo for years to come. Fans of Nevada Barr and C.J. Box will love this explosive debut.
Stalking Ground (2016)
When Deputy Ken Brody’s sweetheart goes missing in the mountains outside Timber Creek, Mattie Cobb and Robo are called to search. But it’s mid-October and a dark snow storm is brewing over the high country—and they’re already too late. By the time they find her body, the storm has broken and the snow is coming down hard.While Brody hikes down to bring back the forensics team and veterinarian Cole Walker gathers supplies to protect them from the storm, Mattie and Robo find themselves alone, guarding the gravesite overnight in the dead of the early winter. And that’s only the first long, dark night in a series of them, because as their investigation develops, Mattie, Robo, Brody, and Cole find themselves in the middle of the killer’s stalking ground—with no way out unless they can catch a predator more deadly than any natural threat.
Hunting Hour (2017)
Deputy Mattie Cobb is in a dark place and has withdrawn from Cole Walker and his family to work on issues from her past. When she and her K-9 partner, Robo, get called to track a missing junior high student, they find the girl dead on Smoker’s Hill behind the high school, and Mattie must head to the Walker home to break the bad news. But that’s only the start of trouble in Timber Creek, because soon another girl goes missing—and this time it’s one of Cole’s daughters.Knowing that each hour a child remains missing lessens the probability of finding her alive, Mattie and Robo lead the hunt while Cole and community volunteers join in to search everything—to no avail. It seems that someone has snatched all trace of the Walker girl from their midst, including her scent. Grasping at straws, Mattie and Robo follow a phoned-in tip into the dense forest, where they hope to find a trace of the girl and rescue her alive. But when Robo does catch her scent, it leads them to information that challenges everything they thought they knew about the case.
Burning Ridge (2018)
On a rugged Colorado mountain ridge, Mattie Cobb and her police dog partner Robo make a grisly discovery—and become the targets of a ruthless killer.Colorado’s Redstone Ridge is a place of extraordinary beauty, but this rugged mountain wilderness harbors a horrifying secret. When a charred body is discovered in a shallow grave on the ridge, officer Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo are called in to spearhead the investigation. But this is no ordinary crime—and it soon becomes clear that Mattie has a close personal connection to the dead man.Joined by local veterinarian Cole Walker, the pair scours the mountaintop for evidence and makes another gruesome discovery: the skeletonized remains of two adults and a child. And then, the unthinkable happens. Could Mattie become the next victim in the murderer’s deadly game?
Tracking Game (2019)
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.
Hanging Falls (2020)
A deluge has flooded the high ground near Hanging Falls–but heavy rains aren’t the only menace descending on Timber Creek. While on a scouting mission to pinpoint trail damage, officer Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo stumble upon a body floating at the edge of a lake. Robo catches human scent, which leads to an enigmatic forest-dweller who quickly becomes suspect number one.With help from veterinarian Cole Walker, Mattie identifies the victim, and discovers an odd religious cult whose dress and manners harken back to the 19th century. As the list of suspects grows, an unexpected visit from members of Mattie’s long-lost family sheds new light on her childhood as they help Mattie piece together details of the fateful night when she was abducted at age two.The tangled threads of the investigation and family dynamics begin to intertwine–but darkness threatens to claim a new victim before Mattie and Robo can track down the killers.
Striking Range (2021)
He was suspect number one–the man who tried to kill Deputy Mattie Cobb and may have killed her father thirty years earlier. But when Mattie and cold case detective Jim Hauck reach the Colorado state prison where they will finally get to interview him, he’s found dead in his cell. There’s only one clue: a map leading to Timber Creek and rugged Redstone Ridge.Though she usually works with veterinarian Cole Walker, Mattie’s K-9 partner Robo has just sired a litter of pups, who require special, time-consuming care at Cole’s clinic. Left to explore the map’s clue without him, Mattie and Robo journey into the burned forest surrounding Redstone Ridge. But before they can finish their search they’re called to help investigate the death of a young woman found in a campground filled with elk hunters. Identification of the deceased points to her having recently given birth, but the infant is nowhere to be found.As a deadly storm descends upon the mountains, covering everything with a layer of ice and snow, Mattie and her team search for the missing newborn. The storm batters the area, taking its toll on the team and forcing the sheriff to call in reinforcements. When new evidence surfaces, they decide that finding the woman’s killer will lead them to her baby, making them even more desperate to solve the case.Then Cole goes missing, stranded alone in the high country with a person that Mattie now suspects is the mastermind behind several murders, including her father’s. She and Robo take to the trail to find Cole–but the killer has a cold-blooded plan that threatens them all.
