Hanging Falls: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

In Mizushima’s solid sixth outing for Timber Creek, Colo., deputy Mattie Cobb (after 2019’s Tracking Game), Mattie, who’s been trying to understand why her parents disappeared and abandoned her to foster care when she was two, learns through a DNA match on an ancestry database that she has a sister and grandmother living in California. On the eve of her trip to see them, she and her German shepherd patrol dog, Robo, discover the bloated body of a man floating in a secluded lake, with the word pay carved on his chest. Mattie cancels her trip in order to focus on the investigation. Not to be deterred, her newfound relatives come to Colorado. Mattie juggles family revelations and developments in her relationship with veterinarian Cole Walker with hunting for a murderer who’s lurking in the lush forests around Timber Creek. Fascinating information about the training and handling of police dogs makes up for the obvious mystery plot. Laden with a heavy dose of family drama, this entry will most please established fans. Agent: Terrie Wolf, AKA Literary Management. (Sept.)