The Dead Years

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for allowing me to read an ARC of this title. This is the first book I've read by this author and I really enjoyed it. I like how it flowed and each chapter was from a different character's perspective. Sometimes it took me a paragraph or two to figure out who's narrative I was reading though. I know what I read was an ARC but there were a lot of words in italics that I am not sure why they were so. Anyway, that is small potatoes-overall the story was great and I really enjoyed it!

I enjoyed this mystery and the relationship between brother and sister. It had me fooled as to who was the father of the killer. I also enjoyed Alice and Rex the human remains detection dogs. I hope this is the start of a series because liked Cory and Crystal.

Thank you Netgalley and Severn House for the chance to read an ARC of The dead years by Jeffrey B. Burton. I discovered this author when I started reading his Mace Reid K-9 mystery series. The dead years is the beginning of a new K-9 series featuring Siblings Cory (owner of a dog training academy) and Crystal Pratt (CPD detective). Chapters are written from a different character's perspective, including the killer, which I really enjoyed. Totally loved the dogs, Alice and Rex, just as much as Mace Reid's K-9's!

I loved the author's previous series which involved a young man who had search and rescue dogs, so was thrilled to see that he had started another K-9 series. I lived in a rural community with no leash law and grew up with dogs. Most of ours just showed up.

The two main characters are a brother and sister: Cory has a dog training business, and his sister Crystal is a detective for the Chicago police. Two of Cory's dogs are training in detecting human remains.

Crystal is called to a site where one murder victim is missing. She calls her brother who comes with his dogs, since dogs trained in finding dead bodies - cadaver dogs - are scarce.

The fear is that a serial killer who had become dormant years ago has started again. I wasn't able to guess the killer although there was one place where I thought maybe ... nah, it couldn't be. This is a great book and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery, suspense, and dogs.

I received an e-arc from the publisher Severn House via NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.