Until three years ago, Dixie Hemingway was a deputy with the Sarasota County Sherriff's Department in southwest Florida. Then came a tragic accident. Now Dixie's a pet-sitter on Siesta Key, a lush, exotic barrier island where the people tend to be rich, suntanned, and tolerant of one another's quirks.
As Dixie tried to get her life back in order, pet-sitting is the perfect job. She goes into people's homes while they're gone and takes care of

Beginning readers devoted to such characters as Henry and Mudge, Clifford, and Marley will adore this Dixie adventure, Dixie and the Good Deeds.

Dixie the puppy faces many of the problems elementary school kids do. She wants to be good, but she makes mistakes. She worries about whether she'll be able to make new friends. She doesn't understand why bullies can't just be nice. She wishes she could spend all her time with her BFF, Emma, and

Wisecracking reporter Dixie Flynn thinks fast and talks even faster—it's the only way to survive the San Francisco crime beat. When she's assigned to look into the death of her former lover, artist Diego Chino, Dixie's instincts tell her there's more behind the apparent suicide than the police are letting on.

Dixie's canvassing of the Bay Area art district reveals it to be a perfect picture of corruption, with a handsome art dealer and