Meet Margaret Mizushima | Author of the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries published by NYC-based Crooked Lane Books

We had the good fortune of connecting with Margaret Mizushima and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Margaret, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up on a registered Hereford cattle ranch near Hereford, Texas, before moving to a registered Limousin ranch near Saguache, Colorado. My brother, sister, and I raised 4-H show cattle to promote our family’s business, and I learned the responsibility of performing daily chores associated with animal care at a young age. As a herdsman, my father pursued innovative aspects of ranching, such as nutritional programs and artificial insemination using selection of nationally known herd sires to improve a cow’s progeny; and he dreamed of a future embryo transfer program to enhance the breeding potential of a super-cow, one that demonstrated excellent bloodlines and phenotype. Unfortunately, he passed away before technology could help him accomplish this last goal, but my veterinarian husband and I carried it out decades later for him with our registered Angus herd.

This love of animals stays with me to this day. I’ve been married to my husband, Charles Mizushima, DVM, for forty-three years and during our time living near Wellington, Colorado, we raised and cared for Angus cattle, quarter horses, and a multitude of dogs and cats. We also raised two daughters while he ran his veterinary clinic on our acreage and I commuted into Fort Collins to work as a speech/language pathologist, first in a hospital and then in my own Medicare certified rehabilitation agency.

Once I retired from my work as a speech therapist, I took up writing novels featuring Deputy Mattie Cobb, her German shepherd K-9 partner named Robo, and veterinarian Cole Walker. I write the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries set in the high country of Colorado, and I use my background as a vet’s wife and dog lover to create crime-related cases for my three characters to solve. There are now nine books available, published by New York based Crooked Lane Books, including the last one, GATHERING MIST. Each mystery stands alone, but if a reader wants the entire background for the characters in the books, they should start with book one, KILLING TRAIL.

Now that both my husband and I have retired, we’ve moved to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to family. Although the first eight books in my series are set in Colorado, GATHERING MIST is set on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula where my characters encounter unfamiliar territory, a rainy climate, and unfriendly locals while searching for a celebrity’s missing son. I certainly enjoyed using this rugged new setting to challenge the folks from Timber Creek, and I invite you to read the action-packed adventures of this crime-solving trio.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
After selling the rehabilitation agency that I’d developed and managed, I decided to start writing fiction. For over a decade, I attended annually two fabulous writing conferences in Colorado, Pikes Peak Writers Conference and the Colorado Gold Writers Conference. I began by writing short stories and quickly moved into writing novel length. I attended critique groups, creative writing classes at Colorado State University, and workshops. I joined writing organizations such as Pikes Peak Writers and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and attended their classes and events. I’ve listed all this to say, I sought out every educational and networking opportunity I could afford to attend. Lucky for me there were so many of these in Colorado.

I tried my hand at other genres but didn’t make any progress toward finding a literary agent or publisher. This was the early part of the 21st century, and I had set my sights on traditional publishing. Self-publishing was in its infancy and not as easily accessed as it is today. One day, a relative of mine said, “Why don’t you write a mystery?” I believed mysteries were hard to write, what with the need to weave clues, red-herrings, and villains into a plot and subplot. This spurred me into a year of reading all of the well-known mystery authors’ books I could get my hands on. What fun research!

After years of classes and practice, I finally wrote a book that attracted first an agent and then a publisher. I continue to work with Terrie Wolf and Crooked Lane Books to this day and consider myself very fortunate to have this type of team relationship with such terrific publishing professionals.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take visiting friends to enjoy the high country wilderness areas that I love: Rocky Mountain National Park, Greyrock Trail north of Fort Collins, and the San Luis Valley to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park, to name a few. We would eat at Blue Agave Grill in downtown Denver, Hacienda Real in Fort Collins, and the 4th Street Diner and Oasis Restaurant in Saguache, CO. We would visit Trimble Court Artisans in downtown Fort Collins and the Fenton Studio Pottery in Saguache. I can imagine how fun it would be to enjoy all these places in one week!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to thank my literary agent, Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management, LLC, and my publisher, Matthew Martz of Crooked Lane Books, for believing in this series and taking a chance on characters Deputy Mattie Cobb, K-9 Robo, and veterinarian Cole Walker ten years ago. Together we’ve published nine books in the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries with two more under contract. Book ten, DYING CRY, comes out October 14, 2025.

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