Author Bio
Margaret Mizushima writes the internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. She serves as 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/
I was born in Kansas and grew up on cattle ranches in Texas and Colorado. My childhood summers were spent either on horseback herding cows or nestled in the crook of a tree reading a library book. When I was in high school, I volunteered to work with a child who had cerebral palsy, teaching lessons that were designed by the school speech/language therapist. I developed an intense interest in this very intelligent boy whose motor skills wouldn’t allow him to talk. So I pursued a degree in Speech Pathology, which I received from Colorado State University after completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Northern Colorado. Eventually I married a veterinarian, and we have two daughters. I worked as a speech therapist in an acute care hospital before establishing my own rehabilitation agency.
After I sold my company, I decided to study the art and craft of fiction writing. What a wondrous world this opened up for me. Whereas before, I’d been driven by the science of speech, language, and communication disorders, I could now focus on artistic creativity with language. I could also use my years of experience working with people to create characters that readers seemed to enjoy. Since I’m an avid crime fiction reader and crime documentary watcher, mystery writing seemed like the way to go.
My husband helped me develop the idea for the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries, and the premise for the first in the series, Killing Trail, grew from a conversation he had with one of his clients. The primary characters, Deputy Mattie Cobb, Robo, and Cole Walker, DVM, came strictly from my imagination, and I hope you enjoy their adventures as much as I do.
For over forty years, my husband and I lived in northern Colorado on a small ranch where we raised two daughters and a multitude of animals. After retirement, we moved from Colorado to the Pacific Northwest where we now live with our two German shorthaired pointers. I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to write to me. My email address is on the Contacts page.