Best Books of 2018, Kings River LifeWinner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, action-adventureWinner, Colorado Authors League Awards, Ebook FictionSilver Award, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Book Awards, mysteryBronze Award, Foreword Indies Book of the Year Awards, mysteryFinalist, Colorado Book Awards, mysteryFeaturing Mattie Cobb and her K-9 police dog partner Robo, Burning Ridge by critically … partner Robo, Burning Ridge by critically acclaimed author Margaret Mizushima is just the treat for fans of Alex Kava.
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?
A deranged killer torments Mattie with a litany of dark secrets that call into question her very identity. As a towering blaze races across the ridge, Cole and Robo search desperately for her—but time is running out in Margaret Mizushima’s fourth spine-tingling Timber Creek K-9 mystery, Burning Ridge.
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I enjoyed this book more than any I’ve read lately. Of course, I’m a sucker for stories that are set in wild areas and include animals. The suspense in this novel kept me glued to the pages. Can’t wait for the next Timber Creek K-9 novel by Mizushima!
I have been a fan since the first book in the series and this is a worthy entry.
I listened to the audio book for my bookclub and couldn’t turn it off. Great characters and compelling mystery. Also, a heart-warming read for dog lovers.
I have read every book in this series. All are great. The author hones her skills with each book. That makes this book the best of the rest. The characters are beautifully developed. The suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat. The author weaves a great story. Mystery plus human drama. Excellent. If you like a great dog story, this series is it. The author understands working dogs.
Mattie Cobb and her K9 partner, Robo, are called in on a case of a charred body, and it soon becomes clear that she has a close connection to the case. As she and Cole Walker, the local veterinarian, search for clues, they come across three more graves. Can these cases be solved before Mattie becomes the next victim?
The Timber Creek K9 series is wonderful and this book is no exception. I really enjoyed the read which captured me from beginning to end. It’s well-written with well-rounded characters and I’m looking forward to the next book. This one does get a little dark in places but not overly so. I highly recommend both book and series which I suggest you read in order.
This is a wonderfully engaging series. I eagerly await more!
Great book
This is one book of a series, and I recommend the book as well as the series. The book can stand alone but is much better as part of the series. Main characters are a female K-9 police officer, her K-9 partner Robo, and a male veterinarian. As they solve cases, they also learn to deal with personal issues affecting their lives. I have recommended this series to several friends who’ve enjoyed it.
Enjoy the characters from previous books and Robo, the police dog.
Puppy Love
This book is about relationships and family ties. The fourth in a series which has been exploring the present and past of Mattie Cobb, the murder mystery in all its complexity stands alone and yet is intricately woven into the furtherance of the enigma that is Mattie’s past. The beautifully nuanced drama, which includes tremendous detail about wilderness maintenance and the deep connection between a working dog and his handler, pulls you along turning (virtual) pages as fast as you can read.
This series was recommended to me by my friend Judy Crudele and it just gets better with every outing! It is set in Colorado, and the setting is another magnificent character in the series. There’s more depth to the characters as we learn more about them, and watching Robo solve crime after crime never gets old. I never read and don’t enjoy romance novels, and so the budding relationship between protagonist Mattie Cobb and the veterinarian Cole Walker is a concern to me. I hope this doesn’t turn into a romance/relationship series after all. Cole seems to be thinking about marriage. Don’t do it, Mattie!
Fourth in the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series, this is the most compelling, even if the most horrifying, to date. The characters are 3D, and we continue to learn more about Mattie, a complex young woman. I enjoy seeing how close the bond is that Mattie has with her K-9 partner, Robo, and how completely they trust each other. The setting, where Mattie is a life-long long resident, can be almost visualized, and the mystery is written well.
Deputy Mattie Cobb has not seen her brother Willie for 25 years, since her father beat her mother badly enough that she was hospitalized. Mattie was 6 years old and had called 911; Willie was 8. Her father went to prison and her mother abandoned both children, who went to separate foster homes. When Willie, an addict in recovery, contacted her 7 months ago, Mattie remembered the repressed years of repeated abuse. They plan to meet in a month, in Las Vegas, about halfway between where each lives.
Cole Walker is the local veterinarian and the man Mattie has been seriously dating. He and his daughters are horseback riding on nearby trails when one of their dogs finds a burned boot holding the grisly charred remains of a human foot. Cole leads men from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Sheriff’s Department, including Mattie and Robo, to where his dog was first seen with the boot. What they find there is most chilling, and the resulting case leads to horrible discoveries. The more they investigate, the clearer it is that Mattie and Robo are in the crosshairs of at least one vicious killer who has been operating in the area for decades.
I like Mattie, especially as I learn more about various life events. The woman she has become is amazing and is well-defined through realistic conversations and actions. The way she seeks resources for her teenage friend, Riley, and others, shows her love and concern. Her friends Stella, foster mother Mama T, and boyfriend Cole and his daughters are also described very well as befits their roles. Learning more about the unique partnership between human and K-9 is fascinating.
No. Way. Just…No. That is what I mumbled several times throughout this novel. I like how the author builds the mystery, step by step, including multiple suspects. The author also has put together a great working team and a set of friends who love Mattie more than she understands. While this is 4th in the series, it can be read as a standalone or in order of the series. The author does a fabulous job of giving sufficient information about the characters to appreciate this novel, yet Mattie’s life has not been problem-free, and we learn much about her journey in the earlier mysteries. This mystery is complex, and intensely stunning as the crimes of past and present converge. I like watching Mattie and Robo interact as partners and friends; I also like how some of the commands and workings of the K-9 relationship are explained for the reader to understand. I watched as each suspect is questioned, studied, and released, and was a bit sad when my “pet” suspects were freed. The real bad guys were barely on my radar. That surprise, coupled with the resolution of all open situations, makes for a story that is hard to put down. I highly recommend this cozy mystery to those who enjoy well-written novels with a complex mystery and law enforcement officers with K-9 partners.
From a grateful heart: I received a copy of this e-Arc from the publisher through NetGalley, and this is my honest review.
Mattie Cobb is a K-9 officer in Timber Creek, Colorado. Along with her K-9 partner, Robo she works hard to keep the citizens of her town safe. She has an estranged brother she last saw at the time they were young children and put into the foster care system. After hearing from her brother, Willie after so many years she agrees to get together with him – in a neutral location – maybe Las Vegas – maybe sometime soon. Contact with her brother has brought back to her brutal memories of abuse when she was a child. Mattie isn’t sure if getting together in person will help her or hurt her. She has questions about her mother’s location. She abandoned Mattie and Willie after leaving the hospital following a brutal beating by her husband. Harold Cobb went to prison for that beating and was killed there. All this family drama will come back to haunt Mattie. Death and danger follow her as she tries to answer some questions from her past and her search for her mother. Her brother is now a “missing person.” Is this somehow related to the past?
Burning Ridge is the fourth book in author Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series. This author should be crowned the Queen of Mystery and Suspense. All her books are expertly written page-turners. The suspense keeps your heart pounding until the very end. This is also very much true of Burning Ridge. It is a fast-paced read, definitely a book you don’t want to put down. Mattie and her K-9 partner Robo are very much a dedicated pair. It is very entertaining reading about how they work together and their relationship at home as well as at work. The secondary characters are very three dimentional and realistic. Margaret Mizushima does an excellent job making all her characters come to life in the pages of the book.
This book is one not to be missed!
Deputy Mattie Cobb loves what she does. Her K-9 partner, Robo, has helped her out of scrapes with criminals and supports her through the residual trauma from her unhappy childhood. They love and depend upon each other both on and off the job.
Cole Walker, the local vet, has grown very fond of Mattie. Mattie cares for him also, but has learned to keep her emotions in check. What if he finds out about her childhood? She can barely live with the things that happened, especially being abandoned by her mother when she was very young, so it is hard for her to allow Cole into her life despite the strong feelings for him.
When the beauty of Colorado’s mountains becomes stained with murder, it hits Mattie close to home. Dead bodies begin surfacing, some old and one painfully new. Physically and emotionally she will be pushed to the limits – will she ever be the same again once her past comes to light? And will she survive to find out?
Mizushima brings the magnificence of the Colorado Redstone Ridge to life in the pages of her book. The insanity of a murderer is played out amidst tall fragrant pines and longhorn sheep innocently grazing the ridge. The juxtaposition of these images in the readers minds magnifies the best of nature and the worst of man, making both memorable in the twisted tale.
The characters are rich and full. Mattie’s past also includes Mama T, her beloved foster mom. Her sidekicks at the sheriff’s department are interesting. I especially like Rainbow and how yoga helped Mattie survive.
Mizushima has written three previous Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries and this is the first one I have read. It worked perfectly as a stand-alone mystery I was not confused and never felt anything was missing from the story. As a matter of fact, when I got to the last 50 pages, I had to keep slowing myself down because the action was so intense I had to know what was going to happen.
I highly recommend Burning Ridge and cannot wait to read the first three books in this series. If you are a fan of Longmire, you will love this book. If you are a great mystery fan, you will love this book. And last, but not least, if you love dogs – this is the book for you!
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a material connection because I received a review copy for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Copyright © 2018 Laura Hartman
Burning Ridge by author Margaret Mizushima is one of her best yet. I enjoy this series and really like the main character Mattie Cobb and Robo, her K-9 service partner. In the story of Burning Ridge, the body recovery hits very close to home for Mattie. While Cole and his daughters are riding their horses through the Colorado backcountry, they happen across evidence of the remains of a body. Mattie. Robo and a search team from the sheriff’s department locate the burned body and discover a very distinctive tattoo on the shoulder.
Mattie’s brother Willie who lives in California had contacted her recently and asked to meet with her sometime soon. Mattie receives a call from his girlfriend with concern because Willie is missing. As Mattie looks at the tattoo of the burned man she realizes the body is probably her brother! Who would do this and why??
I won’t post spoilers, but now the mystery begins and more information about Mattie’s childhood comes forth. If you are a fan of the Timber Creek Mysteries, you do not want to miss this book!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.