Guest Blogger ~ Margaret Mizushima

Moving and Moving On

This is my first guest post for Paty’s Ladies of Mystery, and I’m so happy to be here. I write the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries, a series comprised of eight published books and a new episode titled GATHERING MIST that launches on October 8^th. I’m excited for this book to be released, because it’s set in an entirely different place than the rest of the series, resulting from a move that my husband and I made in 2022.

Our move across country from northern Colorado to the state of Washington began two years prior to the actual event. My husband Charlie is a veterinarian who established his practice of forty-two years on our property outside the city limits of a small town north of Fort Collins, CO. We also raised a herd of Angus cattle, quarter horses, and a multitude of pets there. It was our beloved home, and we planned to stay there forever.

But then…the school district bought the plot of ground next to ours and began to build a three-school campus, complete with football, baseball, and soccer fields. Oh my! The construction noise rocked our home. The atmosphere of our peaceful country life was destroyed. We looked at each other and said, “We’ve gotta move.”

Fortunately, it was time for my husband to retire. It took two years to disperse our cattle herd, sell our farm equipment, close the vet practice and get ready to go. We decided to head to Washington to be closer to one of our daughters. Because of the boom in the real estate market, cash buyers reigned. Since no one would entertain an offer from someone with a contingency, we were unable to buy a place to move to until after our property sold.

The last month before we left was intense. We pared down our belongings and loaded what was left into one stock trailer and a container strapped to our hay trailer, which we stored on our friends’ property. We loaded our two German shorthaired pointers into the car and headed west to Washington State. What a trip! Both dogs and humans were shell-shocked when we arrived.

Our daughter had found a place for us to rent near her home in a beautiful river valley. It was on a rural property surrounded by giant Douglas fir that smelled amazing at night. Our landlady let us bring our dogs and they had a large meadow they could run in each morning. We’ll always be grateful for her gracious hospitality.

Four months later, we found our new home and made the final move. We settled in and I discovered a wonderful setting for the ninth book in my series, a fictional spot on Washington’s Olympic peninsula.

In GATHERING MIST, Deputy Mattie Wray and her K-9 partner Robo leave their home a week before Mattie’s wedding to join a search and rescue mission for a celebrity’s missing son. They face unfamiliar territory and unfriendly locals on the misty, rain-soaked Olympic peninsula, and they uncover secrets that have lain buried in the dense forest. When it becomes apparent that there is something more sinister than a lost child in play, the searchers grow desperate as they strive to find the missing boy before he is lost forever.

We’ve not only found a new home here in Washington, but I found a new setting that I loved using in this book. I invite you to read Mattie and Robo’s adventures that are set in both Colorado and Washington, starting with book one, KILLING TRAIL. Or, if you prefer, start anywhere in the series, because the mystery in each episode stands alone. I hope you enjoy the books!

GATHERING MIST

Secrets hide within the fog deep in the mossy forests of the Pacific Northwest, in this ninth thrilling installment in award-winning author Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series.

Deputy Mattie Wray, formerly Mattie Cobb, is summoned to Washington’s Olympic peninsula for an urgent search and rescue mission to find a celebrity’s missing child. With only a week left before her wedding, Mattie is hesitant to leave Timber Creek, but her K-9 partner Robo’s tracking skills are needed.

Dense forest, chilling rain, and unfriendly locals hamper their efforts, and soon Mattie suspects something more sinister than a lost child is at play.  When one of the SAR dogs becomes ill, her fiancé Cole Walker suspects poison. Fearing for Mattie’s and Robo’s safety, Cole joins the search and rescue team as veterinary support.

Secrets that have lain hidden within the rugged terrain come to light and when it is uncovered that the missing child was kidnapped, the search becomes a full-blown crime scene investigation, forcing Mattie, Robo, and Cole into a desperate search to find the missing child before it’s too late.  

Here is a buy link:https://www.amazon.com/Gathering-Mist-Timber-Creek-Mystery/dp/1639108947

Buy Link in Tiny URL:  https://tinyurl.com/5n9xx8un

Margaret Mizushima writes the internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. She serves as past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and was elected Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is the recipient of a Colorado Authors League Award, a Benjamin Franklin Book Award, a CIBA CLUE Award, and two Willa Literary Awards by Women Writing the West. Her books have been finalists for a SPUR Award by Western Writers of America, a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award, and the Colorado Book Award. She and her husband recently moved from Colorado, where they raised two daughters and a multitude of animals, to a home in the Pacific Northwest. Find her on Facebook/AuthorMargaretMizushima, X @margmizu, Instagram @margmizu, and her website www.margaretmizushima.com.