Local Search and Rescue Authors Launch Their First Book!

From the mud of the Oso Landslide Disaster, from a deep river valley in Olympic National Park, from high slopes on Mount Rainier, local search and rescue volunteers Suzanne Elshult and Guy Mansfield tell of their missions in their book: A Dog’s Devotion: True Adventures of a K9 Search and Rescue Team (Lyons Press, October 2022).

A Dog’s Devotion is a gritty, inside view of a remarkable K9 Search and Rescue team whose “principal investigator” is a yellow Labrador retriever named Keb. Join Suzanne, her faithful K9 Keb, and her irrepressible teammate Guy, as they walk in the shadows of crime, disaster, and tragedy, searching for the lost and the dead in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest. Readers will join this intrepid K9 and her teammates as they face the challenges of deep northwest forests, high mountain slopes, and menacing coyotes, to find buried victims of the Oso Landslide, missing hikers, and even the bones of murder victims from long ago.

“An eye opening, heart pumping, and illuminating real life capture of the dedication and devotion to Search and Rescue embodied in the amazing work of K9 Keb and her equally dedicated human handler, Suzanne Elshult. It is a compelling narrative filled with detail and insights into the incredibly difficult and often disappointing work of Search and Rescue.” Susan Wilson, Award-Winning Author of “What a Dog Knows.”

A Dog’s Devotion is available at local bookstores and online from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. Our official book launch party (by invitation only) will be at 5PM at Café Louvre in Edmonds. Upcoming book signing events include: 5PM October 20^th at Edmonds Bookshop and 1PM November 2^nd at Barnes and Noble in Woodinville.

Suzanne Elshult and James Guy Mansfield have been local search and rescue volunteers for over 20 years and have been recognized by state and local agencies for their service. Suzanne is the President of Cascadia Search Dogs. Guy is Director of the Washington State SAR Planning Unit. Both Suzanne and Guy are members of Everett Mountain Rescue. K9 Keb was just announced as the 2022 American Humane Search and Rescue Hero Dog, and will be recognized at the televised national awards gala on November 11, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. The authors will be donating a portion of their proceeds to local volunteer search and rescue teams.