Hunting Hour

June 15, 2017
A missing girl who turns up dead ignites the protective instincts, if not the soundest investigating instincts, of a cop with a K-9 partner.When an emergency call from the Timber Creek police force interrupts Deputy Mattie Cobb during a therapy session, she's all too happy to take the call and get to work. Being on the job with her police dog, Robo, gives Mattie a welcome sense of calm that makes her feel better about her past. Once she hears the details of the case, though, she's more unsettled than ever. Mattie and Chief Deputy Ken Brody are called to investigate the disappearance of Candace Banks, a junior high school student who didn't return home at the end of the day. Though Robo is instrumental in finding Candace, the team is too late, for whoever apparently abducted her has killed her. Shocked and horrified, Mattie finds herself talking things over with her friend town vet Cole Walker. Even though Mattie's taken a step back from her friendship with Cole and his two young daughters, Sophie and Angela, she immediately worries how it will feel for him to hear about the murder of a girl his daughters' age. Determined to find a suspect, she zeroes in on Gus Tilley, a bachelor from outside town who's been showing up at Cole's practice with alarming frequency. Does Gus' anxious behavior hide a guilty conscience? Mattie feels certain she can find a connection between Gus and Candace's murder, whether or not her colleagues agree. She becomes even more determined when Sophie goes missing. After exploring her heroine's history in Stalking Ground (2016), Mizushima presents a fresh mystery in which the heroine's motivations may reveal even more about her background.

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August 1, 2017

In her third outing (after Staking Ground and Killing Trail), a depressed Mattie Cobb still struggles with issues from her past and a previous case. She and Robo, her K-9 coworker, are still a tightly bonded team, but Mattie has withdrawn from her police colleagues and local vet Cole Walker and his daughters. When a teenage girl is reported missing, Mattie and Robo are on the case then find the girl's body near the high school. Then one of Cole's daughters is kidnapped. The suspense ratchets up as the search for the missing girl accelerates. Mizushima excels at revealing Mattie's conflicted mind-set regarding Cole and his children and the disconnect she feels in her life. VERDICT Fans who miss Virginia Lanier's "Bloodhound" series, and readers who relish strong female characters and procedurals with a strong sense of place will want to get better acquainted with Mattie and Robo.--ACT

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 5, 2017
In Mizushima’s suspenseful, meticulously detailed third mystery set in Timber Creek, Colo. (after 2016’s Stalking Ground), Deputy Mattie Cobb is working with a therapist to process the complex emotions engendered by a recent case when she receives a call to go to the junior high school. There she meets the parents of student Candace Banks, who suffers from asthma and has gone missing without her inhaler. Mattie and her police service dog, Robo, to whom she feels closer than any person, search the wooded hill area behind the school and discover Candace lying dead in the brush. Scrapes on the girl’s face and hands suggest foul play. Mattie suspects Candace’s abusive father, who has a drug and gambling problem, but her investigative team can’t find any solid evidence against him. Mizushima offers a compassionate portrait of Mattie, who has distanced herself from her colleagues and her budding romantic interest, veterinarian Cole Walker, in this rewarding small-town police procedural. Agent: Terrie Wolf, AKA Literary Management.