One of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Cole Walker.

What is your full name?
Cole Walker, DVM (I included DVM, because it took years of hard work and hardship to earn that Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.)

How old are you?
Thirty-eight years old

What is your profession?
I’m the only veterinarian in the Timber Creek, Colorado area; and man, it really keeps me hopping.

Do you have a significant other?
I’m married to my lovely wife.

What is their name and profession?
Her name is Deputy Mattie Walker, and she’s the one and only K-9 handler in the Timber Creek County Sheriff’s Department.

Do you have any children?
I have two daughters from a previous marriage—sixteen-year-old Angela and nine-year-old Sophie. Along with Mattie, they’re the three loves of my life.

Do you have any siblings?
My kid sister, Jessie Walker. She’s single and works as an attorney in Denver.

Are your parents nearby?
My folks own the cattle ranch I grew up on just outside of town. My dad and I are close, but my relationship with Mom is complicated. Mattie seems to be working on us getting closer though. We’ll have to see how that works out.

Who is your best friend?
Besides Mattie, I’ve been best friends with Garrett Hartman for years. I went to school with him here in Timber Creek, and he’s another local rancher. I trust Garrett with my life and the lives of my children, and I’ve had to do so more than once.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
What can I say? I’m a veterinarian. At the moment, we have three dogs: a Bernese mountain dog named Belle, a Doberman named Bruno, and a German shepherd named Robo who is also Mattie’s K-9 partner. We have a wee Siamese cat named Hilde as well. She was raised with the dogs and gets along well with all of them.

What town do you live in?
Timber Creek, Colorado. It’s a small mountain town surrounded by agricultural land and forest.

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
I live in a log house that I built after my first marriage. Recently we’ve decided to redecorate some of the rooms, so that Mattie feels like this is her home instead of my ex-wife’s. Mattie and I have known each other for just shy of two years, and we’ve been married for about four months now.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
I love it all. The great room with its cathedral ceiling and sweeping rock chimney, the homey kitchen, and our bedroom now set up with furniture and décor to Mattie’s specifications.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
Mrs. Gibbs is our live in housekeeper and child care expert that I hired after my wife left me. I needed someone here at home to take care of the kids because I’m called to emergencies all hours of the day and night. Since Mattie’s job is just as demanding, Mrs. Gibbs has stayed on to take care of all of us. She makes a mean roasted chicken and a chocolate layer cake that’s to die for.

Do you have any hobbies?
I’m afraid not. I’m too busy. But I would like to take up fishing someday.

What music do you listen to?
Country. And I love to take Mattie dancing to country music at the Watering Hole, our local bar and grill.

What is your favorite color?
Blue…the color of my truck with the mobile vet hospital unit on the back.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
I haven’t had a vacation for years. Last December, I went to the Olympic peninsula in Washington State to help Mattie with a search and rescue case. I’d like to take Mattie and the kids back to there for a vacation when I can slip away from my solo practice.

Are you a morning or night person?
Definitely morning. I work hard and am tired by nightfall.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Dancing with Mattie at the Watering Hole or taking her and the kids into the mountains for a picnic.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Well, All Creatures Great and Small is already taken. Maybe something like Tails from a Country Vet. But I bet everyone would think I didn’t know how to spell Tales.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m a member of the sheriff’s volunteer posse, and I often provide horses (mine and my dad’s) for riding up into the high country for an investigation or accompanying Mattie on a hunt for a fugitive.

What is a typical day in your life like?
I rise early so I can feed my horse Mountaineer and my daughter’s chickens, before my first client comes into the clinic. Then Tess Murphy, my assistant, and I work hard for the next eight hours to take care of our patients. Sometimes we get lunch, sometimes we don’t. And sometimes, I’m called out to help the sheriff with support for his investigative team. Thank goodness Mrs. Gibbs holds down the fort at the house and provides loving supervision for our kids when Mattie and I are on a case.

DYING CRY — A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery, Book 10
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: October 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

A killer lurks in Colorado’s snowy high country in Dying Cry, the tenth thrilling installment of award-winning author Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 mystery series.

Newlyweds Mattie and Cole Walker are teaching Cole’s daughters how to snowshoe in a remote canyon when a shattering scream pierces the air. They know that somewhere ahead, someone has been injured or worse. Cole takes the girls while Mattie and Robo go deeper into the canyon to search for the source of the scream.

From a distance, Mattie and Robo see a shadowy figure at the base of a cliff, but a rockslide buries the person under layers of stone and shale before they can provide help. Desperate to uncover the individual in case they’re still alive under the rock, their efforts are in vain. The victim is already dead. When they investigate the canyon rim from which the person fell, they discover evidence that indicates the fall was no accident. To make matters worse, the victim was one of Cole’s friends.

The Timber Creek County investigative team springs into action, uncovering a trail of greed that leads to a killer who threatens Mattie’s cherished new family and tests her with the most difficult task she’s faced in her duty as a K-9 handler.

About the author
Margaret Mizushima writes the internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. She served as a past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and was elected Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is the recipient of a Colorado Authors League Award, a Benjamin Franklin Book Award, a CIBA CLUE Award, and two Willa Literary Awards by Women Writing the West. Her books have been finalists for a SPUR Award by Western Writers of America, a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award, and the Colorado Book Award. She and her husband recently moved from Colorado, where they raised two daughters and a multitude of animals, to a home in the Pacific Northwest. Find her on Facebook/AuthorMargaretMizushima, X @margmizu, Instagram @margmizu, and her website www.margaretmizushima.com.