Fighting Edge may be my favorite of Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 mysteries. Although the story becomes personal to Timber Creek K-9 officer, Deputy Mattie Walker, this one is a more straightforward police procedural than some of the other stories in the series. It can also be read as a standalone, without having to know Mattie’s family background.
A routine welfare check is the first indication that crime in the small community of Timber Creek, Colorado, population 1,000, may be on the upswing. Mattie and her K-9 partner, Robo, find a dead mother on her couch, and her crying toddler, Emma, in her crib. It doesn’t take long to determine the little girl may have witnessed her mother’s death, one that appears to be a murder.
Although Mattie’s day gets worse, Robo’s gets better. She stops a car for speeding, but something is fishy about the driver and the teenage boy in the car. Robo’s investigation finds drugs in the car, allowing Mattie to arrest the man, and take the boy into custody. She and the sheriff’s department suspect they have a case of human trafficking on their hands. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is called in, but it’s Mattie who wonders if her murder case is connected, since the victim was a runaway who recognized someone from her lost years in California.
While Mattie’s juggling both cases, her husband, veterinarian Cole Walker, substitutes for another vet, and observes a number of teens working in an orchard. The scene bothers Cole, and a casual comment from his oldest daughter about a lot of new students at school makes Mattie wonder about them.
I could write more, but I don’t want to reveal too much about this book and its entwined storylines. It’s a complicated case involving multiple agencies from the Timber Creek Sheriff’s Department to the CBI to Homeland Security and Social Services. As usual with these books, it culminates in a difficult chase involving Mattie, Robo, and other officers, even Cole and others from services involving animal welfare. It’s a dramatic conclusion.
It was also a humbling experience reading this book. Without going into detail, it involves crimes I hadn’t read about, and neither had my sister. I wasn’t surprised that my brother-in-law, who worked for years as a probation officer, knew much more than I did when I asked. As I said, Fighting Edge can be read as a standalone. Robo, and those who work with him, are definitely heroes, in more ways than one in this compelling mystery.
Margaret Mizushima’s website is https://margaretmizushima.com/
Fighting Edge by Margaret Mizushima. Crooked Lane, 2026. 326p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publicist sent me a copy of the book, with no expectation of a positive review.
