ARC Review: Dying Cry by Margaret Mizushima

Dying Cry
Author: Margaret Mizushima
Series: Timber Creek K-9 Mystery (Book 10)
Publication: Crooked Lane (October 10, 2025)

Description: A killer lurks in Colorado’s snowy high country in Dying Cry, the tenth thrilling installment of award-winning author Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 mystery series.

Newlyweds Mattie and Cole Walker are teaching Cole’s daughters how to snowshoe in a remote canyon when a shattering scream pierces the air. They know that somewhere ahead, someone has been injured or worse. Cole takes the girls while Mattie and Robo go deeper into the canyon to search for the source of the scream.

From a distance, Mattie and Robo see a shadowy figure at the base of a cliff, but a rockslide buries the person under layers of stone and shale before they can provide help. Desperate to uncover the individual in case they’re still alive under the rock, their efforts are in vain. The victim is already dead. When they investigate the canyon rim from which the person fell, they discover evidence that indicates the fall was no accident. To make matters worse, the victim was one of Cole’s friends.

The Timber Creek County investigative team springs into action, uncovering a trail of greed that leads to a killer who threatens Mattie’s cherished new family and tests her with the most difficult task she’s faced in her duty as a K-9 handler.

My Thoughts: Mattie and Cole Walker on a brief vacation with his daughters. They are snowshoeing when they hear a cry. Cole takes the girls back to the resort while Mattie and her K-9 Robo go to investigate. 

Robo finds a trail and Mattie can see a body at the base of a cliff, but a landslide covers it before Mattie can get there. She's called in reinforcements from the sheriff's department but she Cole and the resort owner manage to uncover the body before they arrive. Cole is surprised to recognize Tom Murphy, a local banker and the husband of his vetinary assistant Tess. 

Events quickly prove to be murder. The Timber Creek Sheriff's Department is on the case. Tom was at the resort with some of his colleagues from the bank planning future projects. Tess had come along for a mini-vacation. Mattie's first task is to clear Tess of involvement. But Detective Stella LoSasso isn't convinced that Tess didn't kill her husband. 

When it comes out that Tom had contacted the Ethics hotline at work before his death, it looks like his death was work related. No one knows why he contacted them though. Maybe it had to do with the affair between the bank president and Tom's assistant manager who were both along on the retreat but the affair was supposedly over. And what do screenshots on his phone of various bank accounts have to do with the murder?

Tom was killed with a combination of fentanyl and xylazine - a horse tranquilizer - which puts Tess back on the list of suspects but also includes a couple of guys at the resort who manage the horses and had been turned down for a loan. 

This was an excellent twisty episode in this long-running series. I like the way Mattie is integrating into her new family. I also love her relationship with her K-9 Robo. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.