all your Reads in Here

We should count the number of times I've said start at the beginning of a series. You don't have to with Emily Littlejohn's Gemma Monroe series, but that doesn't mean I really like starting with the third book.  Lost Lake , set in a small town in Colorado, is an atmospheric mystery. Those who appreciate mysteries that emphasize the natural setting will enjoy this one. Gemma Monroe is a police detective who responds to a call about a missing person. Four people had been camping at Lost Lake, and when they get up in the morning, one woman is missing. Gemma doesn't know if the it's the story the three friends are telling that makes her uneasy, or Lost Lake itself. There are stories about the lake, and young women who committed suicide there. Now, Gemma wonders about the missing woman, Sari Chesney. When Sari's boss at the local history museum is killed soon after she reports the theft of a historic journal, Gemma's convinced there's a connection between...

Although I had heard of Margaret Mizushima's previous books in the Timber Creek K-9 mystery series, I hadn't read any of them.  Burning Ridge , the fourth book, is an excellent introduction, even for those of us who haven't read the earlier ones. Deputy Mattie Cobb is only beginning to trust her feelings for Timber Creek, Colorado veterinarian Cole Walker and his daughters. Mattie's childhood was traumatic, and she spent most of it in foster homes. With her past, there's a reason she worries about Cole's daughters when their dog finds a boot with a human foot in it. However, her job is to assist with the investigation, along with her K-9 partner, Robo. Robo does find the remains of a body, a man who was burned in a shallow pit in the national forest west of Timber Creek. And, she recognizes the name on the man's tattoo. Although she hasn't seen her brother, Willie, in twenty-five years, after they went to separate foster homes, she'd just been talkin...