ARC Review: Standing Dead by Margaret Mizushima

Standing Dead
Author: Margaret Mizushima
Series: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery (Book 8)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (March 7, 2023)

Description: Deputy Mattie Cobb and her sister, Julia, travel to Mexico to visit their mother, but when they arrive, they discover that she and her husband have vanished without a trace. Back in Timber Creek, Mattie finds a chilling note on her front door telling her to look for “him” among the standing dead up in the high country.

The sheriff’s department springs into action and sends a team to the mountains, where Mattie’s K-9 partner, Robo, makes a grisly discovery—a body tied to a dead pine tree. Mattie is shocked when she realizes she knows the dead man. And then another note arrives, warning that Mattie’s mother is in desperate straits. In a last-ditch gambit, Mattie must go deep undercover into a killer’s lair to save her mother—or die trying.

My Thoughts: Lots of threads wrap up in this eighth book in the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series. Mattie Wray and her recently met sister Julia go to a small town in Mexico where there mother has been hiding from the gang that murdered her husband and kidnapped her and her children when Mattie was two. But Mattie and Julia find that their mother and her husband hve fled again, leaving them disappointed.

When Mattie returns to her job as a Colorado Sheriff's Deputy and K-9 officer, she finds a note on her door saying that she'll find him among the standing dead. She alerts the sheriff and grabs her K-9 Robo and heads up to the high country to find out who "he" is. 

Discovering the dead body of her mother's husband begins a hunt for her missing mother and leads to more notes and more kidnappings. Meanwhile, her fiancé veterinarian Cole Walker is dealing with cases of selenium poisoning up in the same high country and with canine coronavirus closer to home. 

With Mattie as the target of a murderer who was part of the original gang that killed her father, the rush is on to finally unravel that plot and save her mother and sister's lives. 

Excellent addition to an engaging series. I really enjoy Mattie's relationship with her K-9 Robo. 

Favorite Quote:

"Wait," she told Robo as she reached the door, making sure he waited for Stella and her to enter first. It was a small bow to her being the boss but one she insisted on with this high-drive, alpha-male shepherd. It was easier if she kept him in line so he wasn't tempted to take over, like she'd been warned he might by his trainer.

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