Blind Search

In Munier’s second novel featuring former military police Mercy Carr and her retired bomb-sniffing Belgian Malinois Elvis (A Borrowing of Bones), a young woman is found dead in the woods of the Green Mountains during hunting season—shot with an arrow. While local officials gather evidence, Mercy and Elvis reunite with game warden Troy Warner and his search-and-rescue dog Susie Bear to track a lost child, potentially a witness to the murder. Susie Bear and Elvis lead them deep into the Vermont forest to Henry, a nine-year-old on the autism spectrum, who has a lot of fear yet trusts in the dogs and seems to hold the keys to mysteries and hearts alike. As attacks accumulate and escalate, Mercy, Troy, and their canine colleagues must unravel the mystery and keep Henry safe. Charming working dogs are the icing on the cake in this story, Vermont is as tough a character as Mercy, and Munier writes them with both intricacy and ease.