CASE FILE / 001
A murder.
A ruby.
A trail that won’t stay buried.
Suspended detective Cale Dixon follows a brutal murder from America to Burma, where rare Moguk rubies, a family heirloom, and the secret police pull him deeper into the case.
FICTION
From the Bering Sea to Southeast Asia, place becomes pressure.
David Dagley has spent years working in the Bering Sea and traveling throughout Southeast Asia in his time off. Those contrasting worlds give his fiction a tactile sense of movement, distance, and danger.
Based in Seward, Alaska, Dagley brings a traveler’s eye and a working man’s perspective to crime fiction — placing ordinary people inside situations that refuse to remain ordinary.
“The most interesting stories begin when a familiar route suddenly becomes unfamiliar.”
RELEASE
A CALE DIXON MYSTERY
Cale Dixon and the Moguk Murders
A South Korean man is found with Moguk rubies in his mouth and an heirloom knife in his back. With almost nothing to go on, Cale Dixon changes course and heads for Burma — where the investigation turns into something far more dangerous.
The case begins as research. The journey becomes something else.
Cale Dixon, a detective on suspension, is assigned a research case just before reinstatement. The victim — the oldest son of the Won family — is discovered with Moguk rubies in his mouth and an heirloom knife in his back.
With little to go on, Cale alters the course of a scheduled vacation and travels to Burma, where jewelers, black-market research, the countryside, and the secret police pull the investigation in directions he never expected.
CASE
The Murder
A staged death, a family connection, Moguk rubies, and an old blade leave a crime scene with more questions than answers.
The Ruby
The search for what the stones mean carries Cale into Burma and toward people who understand their value — and their danger.
The Return
After close calls and pressure from the secret police, Cale returns to the States only to find the case still moving beneath his feet.
“A crime story with a strong sense of place and a case that keeps widening the deeper Cale travels.”
“The Alaska-to-Burma contrast gives the story its own identity. The travel details make the investigation feel lived in.”
“A direct detective voice, international intrigue, and the kind of clues that make you want to keep turning pages.”
Some mysteries begin with evidence.
This one begins with a ruby.
Follow Cale Dixon across borders, through hidden histories, and into a case that refuses to close cleanly.