"An avalanche is just the start of the problems on a Colorado mountainside"
Reviewed by Clare O'Beara
Posted April 26, 2024
Romance Suspense
Pino Grande National Forest is the scenic location for the third thriller featuring partners Maya Thompson and her Malinois K9, Juniper. If you have not read the earlier books, there is an infodump at the start which doesn’t seem needed right then, but it lets the reader hit the ground running for the turbulent story.
KILLER SECRETS continues the National Forest K-9 series by moving to Antler Valley, Colorado. Forest Service officer Maya Thompson drives with Juniper to aid Sheriff Logan Jackson following an avalanche. Two young snowboarders were out of the normal area and while they’re found quickly enough, digging in the snow uncovers a body. Maya asks Juniper to scent for clues and starts to be concerned that more than one person is lying hidden.
Maya’s new boyfriend, Josh Colton, is the Deputy Sheriff of Pinecone Junction, and he’s having a heck of a weekend. His family arrives to visit, bringing someone he hoped never to see again. This adds some drama and confusion to the background. Among Maya’s suddenly acquired new colleagues are Forest Services Investigator, Ben Easton, a volunteer search and rescue team, Tanner Drake and his Labrador K9, and deputies Glen and Rory, who look to Maya for guidance as the sheriff isn’t up to much.
This story does involve drug abuse but otherwise is relatively clean. Mainly the read will suit dog lovers and anyone who wants an outdoor adventure with a large dose of police procedures. The reader is aware from quite early, that a serial killer is involved and may be watching the search activities. This can get rather creepy as we’re not sure who they are and if Maya is in danger at any point. There’s another subplot that continues the line of the earlier stories, but I would think our investigator would put it aside while trying to hunt a killer.
Kathleen Donnelly shows yet again how well she knows dogs and K9 training. KILLER SECRETS is a packed novel with fast movement, stress, danger and cold, cold mountainsides. I will be looking out for Maya and Juniper’s next case.
SUMMARY
A small town’s deadly past is exposed in the newest installment of the suspenseful National Forest K-9 series by Kathleen Donnelly.
Until an avalanche ripped down a mountainside, exposing a serial killer’s dumping grounds, Antler Valley, Colorado, was a quiet town. Now Forest Service officer Maya Thompson and her beautiful K-9, Juniper, must catch the murderer before they become the next targets.
With the neighboring town’s new overconfident sheriff deterring the entire investigation, a murderer on the loose and heartthrob deputy Josh Colton racing through her mind, Maya is at a crossroads. Josh is ready to go all in, but Maya has one foot out the door. As she lets her guard down, she needs to accept that she’s falling deeply in love with him, no matter how risky it may be.
When evidence from the Antler Valley victims links the murders to deaths in other ski towns, secrets long buried are unearthed. Maya and Juniper must run toward an answer, though finding it might lead them directly into a fatal trap…
ExcerptJuniper tried to be patient while Maya put all her gear on her, though she made it clear she didn’t love her snow booties. Every time those were put on, Juniper would pick up her paws and shake them, even nibbling at the boots, but eventually she got used to them. She didn’t seem to mind the Doggles, though. Maya swore that Juniper thought she looked cool when she had them on.
After snapping on the long leash, the pair headed back to the crime scene. While they were trudging through the snow, Maya let the leather tracking lead out and Juniper ran around, sniffing here and there and then bounding back onto the trail. Her dog’s joy always made her smile. There was nothing better than a four - legged partner.
As they approached the crime scene, she called Juniper back to walk by her side on a shorter leash. Juniper complied and gave her gloves a couple licks. All seemed to be forgiven for making Juniper stay in the vehicle for as long as she had.
“What do you need for your dog to do its job?” the sheriff asked gruffly.
“Nothing. Right now, I’m going to hike up and see if I can find where the avalanche started. I’ll work from there down. If you have another deputy available to help mark evidence if we do find something, that would be great.”
“Hey, Deputy Glen. Get over here,” the sheriff belted out.
Juniper, not liking his tone, changed her body language to a defensive stance and locked eyes with the sheriff. As much as Maya wouldn’t mind seeing her dog hanging off the sheriff’s arm, she settled Juniper and took her a little distance away before Juniper decided to turn into a Maligator.
As Maya was debating where to best start her hike up the avalanche slide, Ben and Deputy Glen came over. She asked Juniper to sit by her side and wait. Juniper’s obedience was improving and she made Maya proud by doing what was asked.
“I talked to the avalanche expert and she said where the slope becomes steep, the snow is very unstable. We’ve had some high winds and there’s some snow slabs that are waiting to let loose. Be careful going near the start of the slide, but I know you need to start there so that you’re not backtracking with Juniper,” Ben said.
“Okay,” Maya said. “That gives us a fairly good area to search. Plus, I think if we go up much in elevation past the trigger point of the slide, the snow will get too deep for Juniper. The wind seems to have cleared the snow away from much of this area. This is a long shot, but we might as well try it.”
“I agree,” said Ben.
“I’ll come with you and mark evidence. I know where to stay so I don’t interfere with your dog’s tracking,” Deputy Glen said, adding, “She’s a beauty, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Maya said proudly. “Her name’s Juniper. If you’re going to back us up, you better know that.”
“Good point,” Deputy Glen said.
“Okay, let’s go,” she said.
Juniper sprang to her feet and danced around, ready to work.
“All right, girly,” Maya said. “Let’s go see what you can find.”
The trio hiked up the avalanche path. Maya stopped every so often, making sure that they were still in stable snow. They came close to where the slide started and she could see some areas that could be triggered if they weren’tcareful.
“Let’s start here and see what Juniper does. Seek,” Maya said. “Let’s go find ’em.”
She cast Juniper out and directed her to different locations. Usually when Maya started a track, she had an idea of where to send Juniper to try to find the scent. If they were tracking a suspect, then she could start with a vehicle or that last known location, but in this case, they were literally finding a needle in a haystack. Or snow slide, in this case. She didn’t know if the remains started in this area or further down, but she let Juniper work the slope.
Maya continued to direct Juniper around, watching her body language to see if she came into odor. Juniper worked hard and cleared several spots without picking up a scent. Stopping Juniper for a minute, Maya praised her dog and then took in their surroundings. They had worked downhill and were almost back to their starting point. The sheriff stared in their direction, a smug look on his face. Maya was certain he was happy they weren’t finding anything yet.
She ignored the sheriff and went back to analyzing the path of the avalanche and where the remains were located. She decided to go around the crime scene tape and try tracking on the other side. There was a small gulley in the direction that part of the slide had gone through. It could be a good spot for the killer to have dumped their victims.
“Let’s try the other side,” Maya said to Deputy Glen as she started around the crime scene tape. He didn’t say anything, but followed her and Juniper.
After they made the trek around to the other side and back uphill to where the slide started in the gulley, Maya cast Juniper out, telling her to go find ’em. She still wasn’t certain that Juniper would track the human scent since she was used to sniffing a living person, or if any evidence would have a fresh enough scent, but she kept telling herself it was worth a try.
Juniper put her nose to the ground and started sweeping back and forth. Maya noticed a slight change in the tension of her body and her tail started to go up a little higher. She tried not to get too excited, but it seemed like Juniper was onto something and coming into odor. Hopefully that something was to do with the crime scene.
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