Little Girl Gone

By: Margaret Fenton
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Publication Date: February 2016
ISBN: 978-1523266999
Review by: Jennifer Rearick
Review Date: April 2017

Claire Conover works for the Jefferson County Department of Human Services in the child welfare division. Although it is tough work, she genuinely enjoys her job. Even though she is already loaded down with cases, she is the next in line in the rotation and gets handed another case. She receives a case involving an officer finding a girl, possibly around thirteen years old, sleeping on the highway. When asked, the girl does not give up any personal details. When Claire goes to pick up the girl, she tries to get more information out of her. Although the girl does not want to give up any information, she does tell Claire the she can call her Sandy, but that isn’t her real name. When Claire and Sandy go back to the DHS office, Sandy is allowed to get some sleep while Claire works on placing her in the foster system. Claire immediately has a great foster mother, Nettie Sandler, and works to place Sandy there. After getting the details situated with Nettie, Claire takes Sandy to her temporary home.

After getting Sandy situated, Claire decides to go over to her father’s house for dinner. Before Claire can even take a bite, she receives a phone call from Nettie informing her that Sandy has run away. Claire goes over to Nettie’s house to begin searching the area. She soon finds that someone had picked Sandy up from a gas station. Since she is unable to locate Sandy, Claire informs the police of what happened and they are on the lookout for her.

The next day Claire tries to get some work done, but is preoccupied with worry about Sandy. Then Claire receives a call that the police want her to go to a townhouse in the area. Hoping that they found Sandy, she heads right over. When she arrives, a reporter that she is familiar with, Kirk Mahoney, is there. Kirk explains that he is there following a story he is covering about a woman who was found murdered in a ditch. Although Claire has no idea what the murdered woman and Sandy have in common, the officer in charge brings her up to date. The murdered woman is Jean Chambless and Sandy, although her real name is Samantha, is her daughter. When the police ask to talk with Samantha, Claire informs them that she ran away. Claire realizes that Samantha may be in extreme danger. Claire sets out to do all she can to find Samantha. She soon finds herself investigating, and working, with usual sources to not only find Samantha, but to help solve Jean’s murder as well.

Little Girl Gone is a great read. It is a different kind of mystery. Not only does it show the investigation from a different point of view, but it pulls at the heart strings many times throughout the case. There is a lot of detail that makes you feel one with the characters and feel like you are right there with them. It definitely will leave you guessing. There are multiple times when you may think that you’ve figured it out and then another twist comes. Every chapter will leave you wanting more.

Quill says: This is a great book if you’re looking for a different kind of mystery that pulls at your heart the entire way.