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3rd out of 13 books
—
12 voters
Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter (A Dixie Hemingway Mystery #1)
Dixie Hemingway knows first-hand that many things in life are worse than a dirty litter box. Once happy as a Florida sheriff's deputy, she lost everything when senseless tragedy shattered her world. Now Dixie laces up her sneakers, grabs some kitty treats, and copes with one day at a time as a pet-sitter. Her investigations deal strictly with "crimes" such as who peed on t...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
January 2nd 2007
by St. Martin's Paperbacks
(first published 2005)
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Well this was one of those reads that surprised me at how good it was. Now I love animals but when they are the focus of the story I tend to avoid them but in this instance the mystery worked very well as it was based around Dixie's job as a pet sitter.
Dixie Hemingway is a 32 year old ex-Deputy who had struggled over the past 3 years to cope with overwhelming depression of losing her loved ones in a tragic accident. This book does well to highlight that Dixie has basically let life go by the pas...more
Dixie Hemingway is a 32 year old ex-Deputy who had struggled over the past 3 years to cope with overwhelming depression of losing her loved ones in a tragic accident. This book does well to highlight that Dixie has basically let life go by the pas...more
A cozy little cozy, which looks like it could be the start of a series. Not bad.
From the Publisher
"Until three years ago, Dixie Hemingway was a deputy with the Sarasota County Sheriff'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 tries to get her life back in order, pet-sitting is the perfect job. She goes into peop...more
From the Publisher
"Until three years ago, Dixie Hemingway was a deputy with the Sarasota County Sheriff'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 tries to get her life back in order, pet-sitting is the perfect job. She goes into peop...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Dec 11, 2012
Diane
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
5-stars,
cozy-mystery-female-sleuth
Genre: Cozy mystery, who-done-it, female sleuth.
How I found this? I was looking for something like the Lily Bard series by Charlaine Harris (which I've read an embarrassing number of times. I also wanted something read by Narrator Julia Gibson, who's voice I'm kind of obsessed with.
Don't let the cover fool you. I found myself tearing up at some points. Daisy used to be a deputy until a tragedy happened. Now she is a pet sitter and takes that very seriously. NO, she didn't get raped. There's en...more
How I found this? I was looking for something like the Lily Bard series by Charlaine Harris (which I've read an embarrassing number of times. I also wanted something read by Narrator Julia Gibson, who's voice I'm kind of obsessed with.
Don't let the cover fool you. I found myself tearing up at some points. Daisy used to be a deputy until a tragedy happened. Now she is a pet sitter and takes that very seriously. NO, she didn't get raped. There's en...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I love a good mystery, especially a fast-read cozy, and I love cats. So, I thought this might be a good fix and ordered the first 5 from the library and read them in order. They are fast reads, almost too simple, but the first one was entertaining enough to make me continue on to the next in the series. I was a little put off by the discussion of cat rear-ends (not the part of the cat that I am fond of looking at), but she seemed to drop that approach in later books and stuck to other, more inte...more
May 06, 2011
Anne Hawn Smith
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
cozy-mystery,
mystery
I wasn't as fond of this book as I thought I might be. The plot is simple and fits the cozy mystery genre, but I got tired of all of the posturing the author does throughout the book. Dixie was a Sarasota Sheriff's Deputy until her husband and daughter were killed and she became emotionally unstable. She gets embroiled in an investigation when one of the cats she cares for is found cowering in a corner and a man is found duck taped to the cat's water bowl. Dixie has an uneasy feeling about the w...more
I bought a bunch of Cat Sitter mysteries for my wife a few Xmases ago. Now that I've decided to read every book we own, I'm up to Clement, Blaize. These are chick books, written for chicks by a chick. But dudes can dig them too. I dug it. I probably wouldn't bought these books for myself, which would have been my loss.
A very breezy read like a Stephenie Plum or Jimmy Flannery mystery. But while an easy and humorous read, there's some dark stuff here too. A nice balance of light and dark. Unlike...more
A very breezy read like a Stephenie Plum or Jimmy Flannery mystery. But while an easy and humorous read, there's some dark stuff here too. A nice balance of light and dark. Unlike...more
Entertaining, but not fantastic. The story of Dixie Hemingway, a Sarasota, FL Sheriff's Deputy turned cat sitter. One early morning Dixie discovers a clients house ransacked and a man dead in the cat's water bowl. Dixie finds herself smack dab in the middle of the case--as a prime suspect and uninvited investigator! I have to be honest, I had the murderer wrong and that doesn't usually happen in books of this ilk so I definitely enjoyed the surprise! While this was not a fantastic read, it was e...more
Upon the recommendation of a patron, I started a new series - Dixie Hemingway Mysteries by Blaize Clement. Dixie is a pet-sitter with a tragic past living in Sarasota, FL. She used to be a police officer, but after the death of her husband and daughter she went a little off-kilter, and her boss advised her that her declining people skills didn't lend themselves to a happy future in law enforcement. So she became a pet-sitter, because animals don't talk back. She's happy walking the dogs and feed...more
I found the second book in the series and so wanted to read the first one before digging in to that one. I'm not crazy about cats but I appreciate the love and care that Dixie Hemingway offers to feline and canine clients. So does a cat owner who ends up murdered but not before ensuring in many ways that Dixie will be involved with her cat.
Dixie comes by being a crime solver naturally. She used to work for the Sheriff's Department before a horrible tragedy. It leaves her scarred and broken but e...more
Dixie comes by being a crime solver naturally. She used to work for the Sheriff's Department before a horrible tragedy. It leaves her scarred and broken but e...more
I enjoyed Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter, it was a light and easy read. Overall, likable and enjoyable. Some of the characters came to life vividly and with surprising depth (in some, okay really one case). Dixie came off as a very real character, relatable with her own strengths, flaws and insecurities. The mystery was okay, it wasn't great but it wasn't awful - It was pretty easy to figure out. There were also a few issues that weren't tied up, I'm not sure if that was on purpose or if it ju...more
May 22, 2010
Jess
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2010,
cs-spring-summer-challenge-2010
I loved this book! My mom recommended it to me, so I was a little skeptical. We tend to like very different books, and the cover and plot sounded kind of hokey. But it was actually a well-developed, interesting mystery. I found Dixie to be an engaging and likable narrator (despite her terrible name—who names a child Michael and then Dixie?!), with a developed character and personality. As someone who respects a plural society, it was also pretty neat to see a gay brother and his partner, intrigu...more
Okay, I am a mystery - suspense fan. Love a good mystery, but this wasn't even a great mystery. I rather find out who was "knocked off" when the body is discovered; not when a writer says: "This will be the last time I see her/him alive". Ms. Clement has done this type of mystery writing "discovery" in two of her books. I recommend her "Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund" at least you don't know the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How, until Dixie herself stumbles upon it.
The plot in Curiosity Kill...more
The plot in Curiosity Kill...more
Dixie Hemmingway is complex character, vuneralbe yet strong. I enjoyed the character's backstory and that it so easily fit into her character's current persona of pet sitter. While this could be considered a cozy mystery, it should be noted that it will seem slightly darker with less of the comedy usually found in a cozy but not so dark as to be considered a thriller/suspense book. It should also be noted that in general the language of the book is decent but beginning in the middle and especial...more
Jan 09, 2011
Zoe
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
cozy-mysteries,
cozy-mysteries-featuring-pets
This was a fabulous read. I'm not sure it falls entirely under the "cozy mystery" category, since it contains some explicit language and gory scenes, but personally I'm 100% fine with that. The story was interesting and fun to follow, although the mystery wasn't original but I was surprised at the revelation of the culprit in the end. The character of Dixie is real; she's a woman with many fears, insecurities but also strengths, trying to move on with her life after losing her husband and little...more
Dixie Hemingway (no relation) was a deputy with Sarasota County's Sheriff's Department in southwest Florida. After a tragic accident she has problems dealing with people so she leaves the Sheriff's Department and starts a business pet-sitting on Siesta Key. She takes her job seriously but also realises that her life needs something else.
That something else is probably not a dead body at one of her jobs. Drowned in a cat's water bowl she finds herself a suspect and being chased by some unsavory...more
That something else is probably not a dead body at one of her jobs. Drowned in a cat's water bowl she finds herself a suspect and being chased by some unsavory...more
I'm not rating this since I only got about 15% of the way through. But I can definitively say that I'm relieved I got this on paperbackswap rather than actually paying for it.
My issue is that the writing is just bizarre.
Example #1 (talking about cats being indifferent): "Then they'll raise their tails to show you their little puckered anuses and walk away." (p5)
Example #2 (while grooming a client's cat): "I turned Fred so that his anus faced her while I brushed the hair around it." (p48)
Um, rea...more
My issue is that the writing is just bizarre.
Example #1 (talking about cats being indifferent): "Then they'll raise their tails to show you their little puckered anuses and walk away." (p5)
Example #2 (while grooming a client's cat): "I turned Fred so that his anus faced her while I brushed the hair around it." (p48)
Um, rea...more
I abandoned this book (and author) with no regrets.
Reason #1: Apparently the main character has some sort of big bad in her background that caused her to leave the police force and become a pet-sitter. There were hints and occasional surface explanations, but nothing that explained much. If this is to be a defining aspect of why the main character is who she is, then explain it - don't make me extrapolate.
Reason #2: Weird writing style. Do I really care about cat anuses or that the 'blessed air...more
Reason #1: Apparently the main character has some sort of big bad in her background that caused her to leave the police force and become a pet-sitter. There were hints and occasional surface explanations, but nothing that explained much. If this is to be a defining aspect of why the main character is who she is, then explain it - don't make me extrapolate.
Reason #2: Weird writing style. Do I really care about cat anuses or that the 'blessed air...more
Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter was a fast, fun, and delightful read that I really enjoyed. Clement has a nice writing style that made it easy to jump right into Dixie's story. Being a cat lover myself, I enjoyed Dixie and her obvious love of animals. Dixie's backstory of how she ended up a pet sitter and why she keeps at it is compelling as it is explored during the story. Her background as a sheriff's deputy makes it believeable that she would become involved in the case of her client's disapp...more
Dixie Hemingway was a deputy in the local sheriff's department when her life was turned upside down. She left her law enforcement career to become a pet sitter and leave her former life behind. On one of her routine assignments checking on a cat whose owner hired Dixie to watch her pet while she was out of town, Dixie discovers a dead body face down in the cat's water dish. All signs point to Dixie as a suspect; she had a key to the house where the body was found, nobody had seen her on her earl...more
Aug 30, 2008
Pat
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who can handle cozy and not-so-cozy mysteries
Recommended to Pat by:
free convention book
This book was a mystery con "freebie" from a while back. (Author: Blaize Clement)
I was SO happy when I finally read it and realized that two more in the series (after this, the 1st) had been published, since I enjoyed it so much.
Dixie was a police officer until her husband and daughter were killed in a tragic auto accident a few years back ... something she's still trying to work through.
Since then she started a professional pet-sitter service in a small Florida key town, serious about her work...more
I was SO happy when I finally read it and realized that two more in the series (after this, the 1st) had been published, since I enjoyed it so much.
Dixie was a police officer until her husband and daughter were killed in a tragic auto accident a few years back ... something she's still trying to work through.
Since then she started a professional pet-sitter service in a small Florida key town, serious about her work...more
Ever since I joined the Cozy Mystery group I've been discovering a whole new genre.
I was a big Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner fan when I was growing up but in this past decade I've read very few mysteries and the ones I did were more thrillers or suspense novels.
This month book for discussion is Blaize Clement's Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter. This is the first book in the Dixie Hemingway series. Dixie is a Pet Sitter, she used to be a deputy in the Sheriff's Department but a persona...more
I was a big Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner fan when I was growing up but in this past decade I've read very few mysteries and the ones I did were more thrillers or suspense novels.
This month book for discussion is Blaize Clement's Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter. This is the first book in the Dixie Hemingway series. Dixie is a Pet Sitter, she used to be a deputy in the Sheriff's Department but a persona...more
This is a little bit of a darker cozy - there is a reasonable amount of profanity, the main character is still somewhat recovering from the grief of losing her family some years ago and there's a little more gory details than what some people might expect from a cozy. People who like their cozies VERY cozy should probably stay away from this one.
But personally, I prefer my cozies this way, with a little bit more edge. It makes them more realistic and the character development is more interestin...more
But personally, I prefer my cozies this way, with a little bit more edge. It makes them more realistic and the character development is more interestin...more
Next to mysteries my favorite books are fantasy, which is a good thing since this book had so many aspects that were unbelievable that it could almost qualify as fantasy. In spite of the strains placed upon my suspension of disbelief, I did enjoy the book. The writer has a way with words if not a good grasp on reality. I loved the setting, liked the main characters and kept turning the pages. In the end maybe that's as much as we can expect from a book.
view all 3 comments
Dixie Hemingway lives in the Florida Keys making it day to day as a pet sitter after her husband and daughter died tragically several years previously. Dealing with people is still a struggle and finding death while on her way to care for one her charges makes her run in the opposite direction. Well crafted and worth the read. Accurate observations of the pets and requirements for caring for them
This is the 1st in a great mystery series. The main character is fun, serious and believable. The setting (Siesta Key, Florida) is enviable and so is her job. Her personal life isn't though and you should start reading the series in order to get her back story, as a little more is revealed in each book. Better than most of the themed mystery series, as it isn't cheesy or "cute".
I got this book because the inside flap said that those who love "The Cat Who ..." series would like this series.
It is nowhere near the same as the cat who books.
The series has a pet sitter who solves murders, kind of. The two in the series I've read so far has the pet sitter finding a dead body and then when she starts nosing around for clues or answers it seems people are practically falling over themselves to give her the information she seeks.
I didn't even figure out who done it in this b...more
It is nowhere near the same as the cat who books.
The series has a pet sitter who solves murders, kind of. The two in the series I've read so far has the pet sitter finding a dead body and then when she starts nosing around for clues or answers it seems people are practically falling over themselves to give her the information she seeks.
I didn't even figure out who done it in this b...more
Solid beginning to a series; much attention paid to characterization and setting the backstory (and future key characters) for the protagonist. The plot, rather weak; the killer, well, just the one *I* expected we'd land at -- but not for the right reasons. Will try more to see if this series grows stronger (and to learn more about the mysterious mind of my cat).
Siesta Key, Sarasota, Fla is as much a character in this book as Dixie Hemingway. People who know the area will relish in Clement's description of that idyllic area. Although brought about by terrible circumstances, the Spartan living of a single woman on her own terms, with a no frills career is refreshing. An interesting start to a potentially powerful series.
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My passion is people. I think people are absolutely magnificent. Not the power-hungry heads of governments or churches or corporations who justify all kinds of horror if it suits their goals, but the rest of us. In spite of the awful things some human beings do in order to control other human beings, most people are peacefully going about their own business, and I applaud that. Families are the ba...more
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