The Night Woods, Paula Munier (Mercy Carr #6) and Gathering Mist, Margaret Mizushima (Timber Creek K-9 #9)
In sports there are often rivals who challenge each other to greater excellence. This happens in writing too, and the head-to-head match up of Paula Munier and Margaret Mizushima, who both write working dog mysteries, is a fantastic example. Both series continue to maintain their excellence, and while I can’t say for sure if these two women know each other, are friendly rivals or even read each other’s work, I do know the similarity in topic calls for a comparison. Munier’s first book, A Borrowing of the Bones, was published in 2018, while Mizushima’s first novel, Killing Trail, came out in 2015. Each writer has worked steadily, producing a book every year.
Munier’s series focuses on Mercy Carr, who lost her beloved to war, and came home with PTSD and her late partner’s dog, Elvis, who suffers from the same torment. The two form a stronger and stronger bond throughout the series, and Elvis, a wonderful tracker, is often put to use by the police department of the tiny Vermont town where Mercy lives. At this point in the series, Mercy has married Troy, the fish and game warden, first seen in the first book. Things have progressed nicely, and in this instalment Mercy is heavily pregnant, giving the book a ticking clock aspect that adds to the suspense.
Trying to avoid her mother who is intent on planning a baby shower, she goes to visit her buddy Homer, who lives alone in the woods and loves a good game of Scrabble. Unfortunately, when she arrives, he’s gravely injured, and, oh yeah, there’s also a corpse in the cabin. This initiates a long series of scary events that eventually conclude with the pregnant Mercy alone in the dark, freezing Vermont woods, facing the imminent birth of her baby.
For her part Mizushima’s series focuses on Mattie Cobb, a grown up foster kid and deputy who has been assigned the task of working with K-9 officer Robo. As the series opens, she and Robo are just beginning to learn how to cooperate and trust, and by book 9 they’ve become a cohesive team. Like Mercy, Mattie has a personal milestone coming up, as she’s about to get married. But before that can happen, she and Robo are called away to help find a child who has vanished into some treacherous woods in Washington State. The ground has been awash in rain (and an atmospheric mist) for days, so much of the ground scent has been effaced. As Robo has been trained as an air scent dog, meaning he can track someone using scents in the air, he’s indispensable. The search for the child is the whole of this suspenseful, well written book, where frustrations in the field, the various human/dog partnerships, and the complications of grieving, divorced parents present daunting challenges for the search and rescue teams.
Mercy and Mattie aren’t the kind of gals who dwell on the domestic, but both share strong love and home lives with the partners who flesh out their respective series. Often helpful in the field, Mattie’s significant other is a vet, while Mercy’s, as mentioned, is a fish and wildlife agent, so the two often work the same territory. In each series nature plays such a strong role that it practically becomes a character itself. Although Mattie lives in a small Colorado mountain town and Mercy in a tiny town in Vermont, each place seems to be visited (much like Cabot Cove) by a nearly unbelievable amount of crime!
While both authors focus on some of the technical elements that make dogs such good search partners, Mizushima tends to include more details. Munier can almost visit the cozy side of things at times, with her books being a real mélange of elements – as in this one where Mercy’s baby shower is a strong plot thread. Both celebrated/celebrate the weddings of their main characters, neither of whom were particularly interested in their wedding dress. (Their creators are though, and descriptions of each are included).
Both writers are similarly wonderful at narrative and suspense, causing me to usually have a hard time putting books by either woman aside while I’m reading. As my son discovered to his horror, I like Batman and Superman. Almost equally. Malinois (Mercy) or Shepherd (Mattie)? Both! And I adore both Mattie Cobb and Mercy Carr (same initials even. Hmmm). Both series bring a unique edge to their books, so I can also learn a bit while I’m being sucked into their great stories. In this case, rivalries rule, with both series coming out as winners. — Robin Agnew