Fighting Edge
Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries Book 11
Margaret Mizushima
Crooked Lane Books
September 2026
Fighting Edge by Margaret Mizushima once again offers the perspective of police work alongside a K-9 partner. There are always tidbits about dogs that adds an extra layer of authenticity and intrigue.
This story has sub-plots that seem to have unrelated crimes with sinister ramifications. First, Deputy Mattie Walker is sent on a routine welfare check. It becomes a nightmare when she finds a young mother dead and a hysterical toddler, possibly the only witness to a brutal crime. Before the investigative team can start piecing together what happened, Mattie discovers another criminal act in Timber Creek.
During a traffic stop for speeding, Mattie observes a nervous driver and a teenage passenger frozen with fear. A quick sweep of the car with her K-9 partner, Robo, reveals a dangerous mix of drugs. She suspects human trafficking, when the teenage boy in the car is unresponsive. Mattie arrests the driver and she places the teenager in protective custody, while the sheriff’s department hands the case over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Meanwhile, Mattie’s new husband, Cole, a veterinarian, is dealing with Butch, a strangely aggressive Rottweiler.
All these sub-plots come together at the end making for an interesting storyline.
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Margaret Mizushima: I had the idea years and years ago. There’s a great Colorado author named Peg Brantley, who wrote a book Trafficked. She and I had attended many of the same workshops where FBI agents and law enforcement agents talked about human trafficking. I just put the idea in my back pocket, because I didn’t want to follow her writing the book Trafficked, which was about sex trafficking. I had decided I wanted to highlight labor trafficking, because I don’t think it’s as well known or as well spotlighted. So, after I moved here to Washington, I met a retired FBI agent who told me about a case on an island near the Washington coast. A man who had immigrated from Mexico set up a pipeline of human smuggling bringing in teenagers to be labor trafficked. He would also peel off some of the girls to be sex trafficked. This man was tried and convicted, and it set the stage for all my thoughts about human trafficking and organized crime.
EC: Did the setting of Colorado play a role in the plot?
MM: In Colorado, there is a real pipeline for human smuggling because of the interstates. There’s one coming north and south, which is Interstate 25. And there’s one going east and west, which is interstate 70, and they meet right there in Denver, and from Denver, different interstates kind of go off like spokes on a wheel. Even its rural areas are not immune. Agricultural areas and rural areas kind of lend themselves to this setup, where bad actors are going to set that up. So, that is where my story came from.
EC: One of the children trafficked was Mateo. Can Mattie relate to him?
MM: He was kidnapped, and he’s being trafficked. Mattie is a Spanish speaker, because she’s half Latina, and half Anglo, so she can really relate to Mateo. She suspects that he’s being trafficked, and since she, herself, was kidnapped in the past, she has these protective responses for all children. When she spots Mateo in this car, with a man that he appears to be afraid of, and when the man and Mateo himself can’t seem to answer her questions, she immediately gets suspicious that something is not right. She wonders if the kid is being smuggled somewhere, and realizes she needs to step in, protect him, and to get him out of that situation, because he’s not talking, at first. So, yes, she relates to him right away because of her past.
EC: There is a description of trafficking in the book. Please comment.
MM: A vulnerable teen can find themselves caught up in being exploited. Many of the cases are domestic. Kids who’ve been abused, kids who run away, and are picked up on the street, kids with addiction, there are lots of risk factors. But the thing they have in common is that the people who force them into the industry of slave labor have also brainwashed them to be afraid of law enforcement. That’s one thing that all the FBI agent presentations that I’ve attended, they all talk about that. And many of them do use victim canines to help these kids relax a little bit and make friends with the dog so that they are more willing to talk about their experience. This is one of the things that makes it very difficult for human trafficking task forces to go in and rescue kids is because sometimes they are opposed to recognizing law enforcement as their protectors and friends. This is why I put in the book, Dawn and her dog, Half Pint, to be able to get these kids to tell their story, and to recognize that people just want to help them.
EC: You used the poison hemlock to kill one of the victims?
MM: Deadly hemlock is not like the tree that grows out here in the Pacific Northwest. Deadly hemlock in Colorado is more like a bush. One of my friends mentioned that she had spotted deadly hemlock in an irrigation ditch that went through her property, and she was so upset, and there was a mitigation, so she had called the county to come and get rid of it. But that got me to research deadly hemlock in Colorado, and finding out what the plant really looked like, and I tucked them away in my brain that someday I can use that in a book, which I did in this book.
EC: Maddie lets the toddler know exactly what to expect, talking to her like she would her dog partner, Robo. Please comment!
MM: I wanted to bring out some of Mattie’s maternal instincts and her experiences when she was in foster care with younger kids. Mattie experiences maternal instincts with Robo, as she has become closer while being his partner. And so, I paired that with the love we have for our animals, or our dogs, and how we view them as family, and oftentimes, children in the family, and then paired that with Mattie finding this toddler that she’s not familiar with. She’s talking to her like she would to Robo, by using simple sentences and simple terms.
EC: There is also in the book a description of a popper button that Mattie had. Is that true?
MM: It opens the car door and the cage. It offers an electronic signal, similar to what you would have on your garage door opener. And so, that sends the signal to the drawer of the cage, and opens that for the dog to get out. One of my consultants who early in writing the books, including with my first book, Killing Trail, told me about this. She had been a canine handler and trainer in Washington State, and she told me how she had been engaged by a couple of tough teenagers who grabbed her, and they had a gun. She used her popper button, her dog, who was named Robo, jumped out of the car, and took the kid down, with the other kid running away. So, she thoroughly believed that her Robo saved her life.
EC: There is also a description for readers on buying a pure-bred dog. Please comment!
MM: It’s been interesting as a veterinarian’s wife, many times my husband is asked about good breeds for protection dogs. And so, I thought this was a great place to be able to have that discussion about the responsibility of raising a breed that has a high prey drive, and is very protective, because sometimes that can end in not a very good outcome. So, I wanted to spell out or highlight how any dog that is willing to bark can be an alarm system in the home, so, people might not really need to have a guard dog. But if you choose to have a guard dog, or one of these more aggressive breeds, it’s a big responsibility in protecting children, guests into the home, other pets, and other animals. These dogs need to be very well socialized, and very well trained.
EC: Tess, Cole’s vet assistant, wants a dog. Correct?
MM: Tess, as a first -time dog owner, really isn’t equipped to be able to handle that responsibility. At the end of the book she decides on a dog that is well socialized and trained. that’s at the shelter. I feel strongly about this little subplot in the book. I feel like the AKC website, American Kennel Club website gives great descriptions of breeds and traits, and what to expect from different types of dogs. So, dog owner, beware. If buying a purebred make sure the dog’s well tested and make sure the puppy has been seen by a veterinarian too when purchasing a purebred dog. The puppy needs to be vetted, but the parents need to be vetted, too, and finding out about their traits, how aggressive are they?? What is their personality? Things like that. And their health as well as the health traits of the parents need to be done. This sub-plot was a word of warning for people who want to get a purebred.
EC: Why have Mattie torn throughout the book between family and work duties?
MM: I was a working mother myself, and I did experience that. I experienced being torn between work and home. Mattie and Cole both have jobs. where they work long hours that are sometimes uncertain. They can be called out on emergencies. I feel like I really wanted to bring that out. I feel like I want Mattie’s yearning to have family, to be a series arc that crosses all the books. So, family issues will always be a part of these books along with Mattie’s response to them.
EC: Next book?
MM: It does not have a title yet. It will come out fall of 2027. And it is about the vulnerable elderly, and those who receive care, and those who become prey.
THANK YOU!!
