Fallen Creed by Alex Kava

 

First Line: "You need to get out of the house!"

 

Ryder Creed and his scent dog, Grace, have returned to Nebraska to help FBI Agent Maggie O'Dell in an ongoing case, but they're interrupted when a rural postal carrier finds a black plastic bag in a ditch. Even seasoned investigators are shocked at what's inside the bag.

 

That same morning, a young woman has gone missing. Is her disappearance connected to the find in the ditch? Ryder agrees to search for her, but an impending snowstorm will put Grace's skills to the test. She's never worked in snow or cold before.

Maggie searches for answers, but it takes a while before she realizes that no one has heard from or seen Ryder since the snow began to fall. Maggie starts to fear that he and Grace have walked into the path of a killer.

~

If you're a dog lover who enjoys reading mysteries, you have to read Alex Kava's Ryder Creed K-9 series. She's created some high-octane thrill rides for one of my favorite casts in crime fiction. In Fallen Creed, she puts Ryder and his favorite scent dog, Grace, in the path of a snowstorm and a killer, and while I was anxious the entire time I was reading the book, I knew Ryder would come through-- and so would Grace. One of the most important things to know about Ryder Creed is that this former Marine K-9 handler can-- and will-- sacrifice his own well-being for that of his dogs. 

In this latest installment, Grace is showing her skills in detecting electronics, a skill for which many trainers use food as a reward. Ryder refuses to do this:

"Many of the dogs that found their way to K-9 CrimeScents had been discarded or abandoned by their previous owners. Some, like Grace, had been on their own for long enough that they were skin and bones, scraping for what food they could find. To make that daily meal a reward for work rendered was something Creed would not even consider. Every dog in his kennel, whether working or not, deserved to be fed."

You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals, can't you?

Fallen Creed has fellow dog handler Jason and Creed's sister, Brodie, loading up a truck with their dogs Scout and Hank and driving from Florida to Nebraska to help in the search. Both suffer from PTSD, and Brodie is experiencing a growing attachment to Jason-- one to which he seems oblivious. While I'm on the subject of attachments, Maggie O'Dell's attachment to Creed deepens as well. This is a well-developed cast that is so so easy to get wrapped up in. I care about what happens to each and every one of them, whether two-legged or four-.

Another thing that I love about these fast-paced tales is that I always learn something: how scent dogs can detect electronics, how human trafficking is more lucrative because drugs can only be sold once but humans can be sold over and over (makes your skin crawl, doesn't it?), or how social media sites are one of the biggest threats to those in Witness Protection. It is possible to learn while feeling anxious about fictional characters...

While you don't have to start at the beginning of this series to enjoy Fallen Creed, I would hope that you choose to do so. (The first book is Breaking Creed.) There is absolutely no reason to deprive yourself of reading so many excellent books!

Fallen Creed by Alex Kava

ASIN: B09LSLZLKX

Prairie Wind Publishing © 2022

eBook, 401 pages

 

Law Enforcement, #7 Ryder Creed K-9

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Lost Creed by Alex Kava

 

First Line: Lester Darrell told his wife it wasn't safe to be on his mobile phone with all the lightning strikes.

 

When Ryder Creed was fourteen and his sister, Brodie, was eleven, Brodie disappeared from a rest stop along the interstate. Her disappearance ripped Ryder's family apart. Now a Marine Corps veteran, Creed devotes himself completely to his K-9 business in which he takes abandoned dogs and turns them into scent detection dogs. Together, they find the lost and the missing. And always-- always-- a part of his heart hopes that, someday, he will find Brodie, too.

 

A thousand miles away from Florida, FBI agent Maggie O'Dell finds a clue that may finally explain what happened to Creed's sister, but in order to learn more, she's going to have to make a deal with a madman, and the search that follows will be an agonizing one for Creed.

 

~

 

I enjoy Alex Kava's Ryder Creed series so much that I dole out each book sparingly. I know I'm going to enjoy the read, and I never want to run out of them, no matter how much I love Creed's relationship with his dogs. Lost Creed was no exception.

 

In Lost Creed, we learn Ryder's backstory, of what led to his sister's abduction and the aftermath that destroyed his family. We get to meet Ryder's mother, who's made a name for herself in the field that Martha Stewart made famous. But most of all, we get to be partners with Creed and FBI agent Maggie O'Dell on another high-octane thrill ride as they search for the information they need in order to find out what happened to Creed's sister. Also helping us piece things together are occasional chapters from the point of view of one of the abducted women. 

 

In the meantime, we readers also follow along with Creed's employee, young Jason Seaver, a vet with a prosthetic limb whose troublesome attitude is slowly mellowing out. He and his young dog, Scout, are on their first solo mission, and it's Jason's chance to really learn the meaning of Rule #1: "Trust Your Dog."

 

Lost Creed has excellent pacing, ever-increasing suspense, and characters who make you come back for more. Kava has done so much to inform her readers about how talented dogs are, and what makes this series even more special is the fact that all of the dogs in Creed's K-9 Crime Scents business are rejects-- many of them abandoned at the end of Creed's driveway. He gives them all stability, love, and training, and as a result, many of his dogs have become heroes. Creed's primary objective is to make sure none of his dogs are ever hurt again, and you just have to mentally hug the stuffing out of him for his resolve. (At least I do.) However, this is a mystery series, not only for dog lovers but also for those who love fast-paced suspense. 

Now that I've read Lost Creed, I'm going to have to force myself to stay away from the next book in the series. As I said, I enjoy these books so much that I never want to run out. But... my resolve is weakening...

 

Lost Creed by Alex Kava

eISBN: 9780997389791

Prairie Wind Publishing © 2018

eBook, 295 pages

 

Police Procedural.Working Dog, #4 Ryder Creed mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Breaking Creed by Alex Kava

First Line: Sweat slid down Amanda's back.

It was never Ryder Creed's intention to wind up in the spotlight, but that's exactly what's happened to him and the dogs he's trained for search and rescue, finding cadavers, and sniffing out drugs and bombs. Creed may not like it, but his partner says the publicity's good for their fledgling business.

One job has Creed and his Jack Russel Terrier named Grace searching a commercial fishing vessel off the coast of Florida. They discover that the Colombian cartel's latest shipment isn't drugs-- it's human.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Maggie O'Dell is following the trail of a brutal assassin. She's worked with Creed once before, so when she discovers a hit list with his name on it, she immediately goes into action. Hopefully, she isn't too late...

Last September, I happened to read an article about the top mystery series featuring working dogs, and Alex Kava's Ryder Creed series was on it. I've already sampled the others on the list and thought that it was high time I cracked open Breaking Creed. Boy howdy-- once I did, I didn't want to stop reading!

Breaking Creed has all the hallmarks of a thriller: the breakneck pace, lots of action, multiple locations,  and just the type of loathsome bad guys that made audiences boo! and hiss! in the old silent movie theaters. If that was all it had, it would be a good book, but it has a lot more.

I loved getting to know Creed and seeing the perfect set-up he has for his dogs-- the kennels, the fact that he trains rescue dogs, and that he's building facilities for a veterinarian. I pretended that I was part of the audience in one of those old silent movie theaters when I learned what many of his neighbors were doing, and then there was the pleasure of seeing Creed at work with his dogs. I'm the type of person who believes one of the best things in life is to find oneself in the middle of a romping pile of puppies, so you know I'm thrilled with the burgeoning subgenre of working dog mysteries.

There are some interesting secondary characters as well, like young Amanda and Jason, a vet who served in Afghanistan. Having Maggie O'Dell make an appearance from Kava's other series undoubtedly brought many Maggie fans over, but I'd never read a Maggie O'Dell mystery before. Guess what happened? Now I've added the Maggie O'Dell series to my Need-To-Read list.

What can I say? I'm the type of reader who is disciplined enough to put my book down when it's necessary, but I was enjoying Breaking Creed so much that I read until I finished the book at 5 AM. I'm certainly looking forward to reading the other books in the series, but in the meantime... anyone got a couple of toothpicks so I can prop my eyelids open?

Breaking Creed by Alex Kava

eISBN: 9780698160675

G.P. Putnam's Sons © 2015

eBook, 309 pages

Law Enforcement/Working Dogs, #1 Ryder Creed mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.