The Quiet One

A month into marriage. A new trainee arriving. And the first morning Kira didn't run to the door.

Gemma notices it the way she notices everything about her partner, immediately, and with a weight she doesn't name. Kira is eight years old. She is slower to rise. She conserves energy in ways she never used to. She is still the best air-scent dog in six counties. But the clock is ticking in a way it wasn't before.

Kate Soren is not what Gemma expected. A former Innocence Project attorney who left Seattle after a volunteer handler died during her rescue, Kate has the analytical mind of someone trained to interrogate evidence, but she thinks too much, and trusts her instincts too little. Her young German Shepherd Scout is talented and eager and rough around the edges. Together they are almost a team. Gemma's job is to make them one.

When a body is discovered beneath an Elk Creek landmark, buried there for over a decade, hidden by a man the town had mourned as a tragedy, Gemma finds herself running a cold case inside a cold case, untangling the lies of a killer who lived among them as a grieving friend.

Trust the dog. It's the first thing Gemma ever learned, and the thing she keeps teaching. Watching Kate learn it too is something she wasn't prepared to love as much as she does.

Perfect for fans of Margaret Mizushima, Nevada Barr, and Jenn McKinlay. The Quiet One introduces the next generation of Elk Creek's searchers.

Book 7 of 14. Kate Soren and Scout join the series. Start with Book 1: Trail Gone Dark.