Dixie Hemingway was a deputy with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office until a drunk driver killed her husband Todd and their three-year-old daughter Christy. The grief wrecked her. She lost control, lost her badge, and spent time putting herself back together. When she came out the other side, she became a pet sitter on Siesta Key.
The job suits her. She has a structured routine — early morning visits to feed cats, midday dog walks, evening check-ins. She is good with animals, thorough and reliable. The problem is that her clients’ homes keep becoming crime scenes. Dixie’s training as a deputy means she notices things other people miss, and her instincts pull her into investigations even when she knows she should stay out of them.
Across eleven books, Dixie builds a new life on the Key. She has a brother named Michael who is a firefighter, a close relationship with her grandfather Tom, and a complicated romantic life. The series tracks her recovery as much as it tracks the mysteries, with each book showing a woman who is functional but still carrying the weight of what she lost.
Reading Order
See the complete A Dixie Hemingway Mystery reading order for all books in the series.