Altitude Sickness

A locked room. A business partner's betrayal. And a retired mystery novelist who can't stop asking questions.

Claire Hartley has settled into her quiet life in Ridgeline, Colorado—morning coffee at the dog park with her golden retriever Boone and her suspicious rescue Pepper, evenings at The Buzz with the enigmatic bartender Mick. She's done with mysteries. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself.

But when climbing guide James Caldwell is found dead in his own shop—suffocated in an airtight storage room with a deliberately disabled safety release—Claire's novelist brain refuses to stay quiet. Especially when she learns that James had made enemies of nearly everyone in his orbit. Someone wanted him silenced before he could destroy anything else.

Now Claire is drawn into a web of professional rivalry, shattered marriages, and twenty years of festering resentment. A wife humiliated by decades of affairs. A former client nursing injuries and broken promises. A competitor driven to the edge of bankruptcy. And a business partner whose dreams of expansion were being crushed by the man who was supposed to be his equal.

As the evidence mounts, Claire discovers that James Caldwell didn't just build a business—he built a lifetime of grudges. Someone in this tight-knit mountain community finally decided that the only way out was through.

With suspects everywhere and motives tangled like climbing rope, Claire must untangle years of partnership gone wrong before the killer realizes she's asking too many questions.

Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries with smart sleuths, loyal dogs, and small-town secrets.

Altitude Sickness is the fourth book in the Ridgeline Dog Park Mysteries series. Each book features a standalone mystery with no cliffhangers.