Blaize Clement, Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund

Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund

Blaize Clement

Dunne, March 2007, $23.95

ISBN: 0312340923

Former Sarasota, Florida sheriff's Deputy Dixie Hemingway mourns the deaths of her husband and their child (see CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT SITTER), but has no qualms at leaving law enforcement, though she is only in her thirties. However, she has moved on somewhat, thanks in part to her work as a professional pet sitter in Sarasota suburb Siesta Key.

Currently she is walking geriatric Dachshund Mame, who takes Dixie to the nearby woods, where the canine digs up the buried body of her affluent client Conrad Ferrelli, Reggie's owner. Besides the corpse, a stunned Dixie swears she just greeted the victim driving by in his car. The police think Conrad's brother Denton is the prime suspect because he demanded his sibling invest in immoral probably illegal scams. Dixie wants nothing to do with the inquiry until someone purposely tries to run her over while she is tending to a canine in a parking lot. While the police and her firefighting brother try to keep Dixie safe, especially when Conrad's widow is murdered, she decides to risk her life to trap the killer before harm comes to Reggie.

In her second appearance, Dixie has her priorities in order as she believes she is the only one who cares what happens to Reggie, so she resolutely risks her life to rescue the Doberman over the objection of the cop and her sibling. The story line is fast-paced, but belongs to the heroine who cares. The canine caper crowd will enjoy Florida's leading pet-sitter, as she uses the skills she honed from her work at the Sarasota Sheriff's Department to save a dog and capture a killer.