Standing Dead, by Margaret Mizushima, is the eighth installment in the Timber Creek K9 series.

It begins with Mattie, and her newly found sister Julia, traveling to Mexico to meet with their mother Ramona, She is the only eyewitness to the long ago case involving Mattie’s biological father Daniel Wray, his murder, and the allegations that he was part of a gang running guns and drugs into the US and Canada. But when the two women arrive at Ramona’s house, she and her husband are gone.

When Mattie arrives home in Timber Creek, she finds a note pinned to her back door, saying that “he is tied to a tree in the standing dead” at a nearby campsite. The note is signed Mattie and the sheriff’s team race over, and find Ramona’s dead husband tied to a tree.

Another note warns Mattie more is coming.

As Mattie, Robo and Brody race to discover who is behind this, where they are hiding, more of Mattie’s loved ones are threatened and/or captured.

Another winner. Highly recommended.