In this riveting account of a female detective’s experiences,Stumbling Along the Beatdetails the author’s conflicting relationships with work, love, fear, strength, and justice at large. Born into a family of police officers, including her father and two uncles, Dittrich was hired as the fi rst female police officer in a small Ohio city when she was 23 years old. Here she pursued fleeing suspects, interrogated witnesses, and faced down murderers during intense standoffs. After Dittrich ended her career with the department as a detective, she returned to her hometown of Mansfield, Ohio, where she became deputy sheriff.This memoir reveals the daily struggles Dittrich faced as she pinned her badge to her uniform each morning, kissed her family goodbye, and arrived on the job amid workplace harassment, maniacal gunmen, and abducted children. She knew that with every call she answered, she risked leaving her husband a widower and her two daughters motherless. Beyond Dittrich’s own story, she exposes a sordid and greedy world of law enforcement, far more scandalous than any episode of TV’sLaw and Order.