51 books like Playing Dead

If, like me, you enjoy police procedurals that involve working dogs, you’ll love the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries.

The author’s research and personal experience shine through as Mizushima offers spot-on explanations of search techniques and veterinary practices—she assists in her husband’s veterinary practice—bringing an authentic edge to the compelling storyline.

Thrilling ingredients like murder, cryptic notes, and kidnapping create an engaging read that leads to an exciting conclusion. And while it’s unnecessary to read the series in order, there’s a lovely character development arc, so I recommend starting at the beginning.

Burton has the finely tuned skill of pulling the reader into the story. I could practically taste, feel, see, smell, and hear the surroundings.

I love dogs and know them well. The author does too. In this installment, Jerry McNeal’s K9 companion, Gunter, a German Shepherd, enjoys a Halloween exploit. But it’s not all fun and games. From humor to white-knuckle tension, Burton weaves in authentic German Shepherd traits—loyalty, confidence, courage, dependability, intelligence, and agility—that kept me turning the pages to discover what came next.

For anyone who loves dogs, the paranormal, and a good mystery, this book’s for you.

I love a good storyline, but even more so when it’s well-supported.

The author, D.L. Keur, offers captivating information about search and rescue, hostage rescue, pack interactions, human-K9 communication, and human psychology. I love the dogs—yes, plural—and the relationships with their human companions.

Speaking of which, the human characters are realistic. Just like people in real life, they’re flawed, which to my way of thinking, makes a story even more believable and relatable.

I’ve hiked, camped, and even stayed on dude ranches in Colorado. So this series, set in ruggedly beautiful territory, speaks to my heart.

Chock-full of breathtaking action, a colorful cast of believable characters, mystery, thrills, and suspense—with a bit of humor and romance thrown in for good measure—the elements make for a well-rounded read.

Echoes Fade is a new release. So when it hit the shelves on June 12, 2023, I snatched it up and devoured it. Trust me when I say it’s a delicious read!

Lily Echosby’s two-timing ex-husband is murdered, and she is a natural suspect. She investigates the murder with her best friend Dixie and their canines. This book is similar to my book in that the human characters are diverse. They come from varying backgrounds, merging their collective experiences to provide a story with many perspectives. Lily Echosby’s CPA training will aid her deductions in the same way that Lily Dreyfus’ canine training helps her solve the murder of Pete Russo. Both women gain strength from their challenges and are determined to sniff out the perpetrators.

Another murder mystery set in a small peaceful community—this time near San Francisco. It is the first featuring Kate Martinelli as the detective, who is new to the job. I found the characters totally credible and appealing, and the theme of portrait painting as a way of revealing the depths of someone’s personality was powerfully well done. It stayed with me long after I finished, and is wonderfully original. Laurie R. King is very prolific, and I find the quality of her work quite variable. But when she’s good, she’s fantastic.

Linda Rodriquez, Cherokee, is the second Native American woman I met who writes crime. Before we even met in person she was supportive of my ambition to write in this genre. She not only encouraged me to keep writing but to also join Sisters In Crime, the organization founded to support women mystery/crime writers. Every Last Secret is the #1 book in Rodriquez’s Skeet Bannion series. "Skeet" Bannion fled the stress of being the highest-ranking woman in the Kansas City Police Department, and moved to a small town to work on the local college police force. She thinks she has run away from stress until she needs to track down a killer while dealing with a vulnerable teen and the return of her ex-husband and her ailing father. So much for small town stress relief!

Hazel Micaellef, 62, a police officer in a small town in Ontario, is divorced, overweight, has back problems, and drinks too much. I am from a small town and divorced. Liquor is not my vice. I am, however, completely at home in the fictional and slightly seedy Port Dumas where locals have long memories. When human bones are found on land that formerly housed orphans, many of the town’s ugly secrets bubble up. The plot is complex and the setting immersive. I would not necessarily want to live in a place like Port Dumas…but I have.

Joanna Brady finds herself elected sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, after her husband dies while campaigning for the same job. In this first book of the series, Sheriff Brady must clear her husband’s name of some ugly rumors while simultaneously searching for his killer. Joanna’s life is a complicated one, balancing motherhood and ranching on a small scale, while managing a sheriff’s department not used to having a woman at the helm. Add to the mix an unsympathetic mother-in-law and (later in the series) a new husband, and you have a protagonist constantly on the edge of chaos. We like this series especially for the author’s skill at portraying the way Brady manages her complicated life, while also evoking the environment and history in and around the former mining town of Bisbee. 

Sarah Stewart Taylor is an American writer who has lived and studied in Ireland.

Her books offer complex, intelligent plots filled with flawed yet compelling characters. Maggie D'arcy, a detective in the North Shore of Long Island and divorced mother of a teenage girl, offers to go to Ireland to follow up on a phone call her uncle Danny received.

His daughter, and Maggie’s cousin, Erin, has been missing for twenty-three years, since disappearing on a hike in the Wicklow mountains. Back then, Erin went to Dublin to try and find her, and became involved in the initial enquiry. Now the Irish police have found something, a buried scarf they believe belonged to Erin. And another girl has gone missing.

The settings are finely-drawn––you can feel the rain and smell the peat fires. A beautifully written novel, not to be missed. That rarest of treats, a literary mystery.