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Little White Lies: Social Worker Claire Conover Mystery #3

By: Margaret Fenton
Publisher: Aakenbaaken & Kent
Publication Date: January 12, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-958022-10-8
Reviewed By: Kathy Stickles
Review Date: May 1, 2023

Little White Lies is the third book in Margaret Fenton’s series revolving around social worker Claire Conover. The book is an excellent mystery full of exciting twists and turns and, as always, filled with factual information on how the child welfare system is run and the lives of those who work for the system. The author’s background, having worked for the child welfare department, makes her the perfect person to write about it and she does not disappoint in regards to her facts or her mysteries.

In Little White Lies, Claire is just trying to do her job and make her new relationship work when she is pulled into the world of mystery. It seems that the office of Dr. Marcus Freedman, a man who is running for mayor, is bombed. Although the candidate is found safe and unharmed, his campaign manager, Jason, is found dead in the aftermath. Unfortunately, the young man had a small daughter, Maddie, and Claire is the one who gets the call to take charge of the child after her father’s death.

As Claire works to find a safe foster home for the child, she also finds out that the girl’s father was the son of an extremely rich and well-known mine owner in town, James Alsbrook. As the investigation continues, Claire finds out that James is a very dangerous person to work for and be around as he has a wife living in fear of him and his mines hold the highest number of accidents and deaths. While Claire and her good friend, reporter Kirk Mahoney, try to sort out all of the lies surrounding the death of Maddie’s father as well as the lies surrounding James Alsbrook, the twist and turns come quickly as does the danger.

While all of this is going on, Claire also takes on a foster child of her own that makes for quite a complicated situation for Claire and her live-in boyfriend, Grant Summerville. In addition, she attempts to fight her blossoming feelings for Kirk. All in all, Claire is trying to maneuver through a very difficult life, both work and private and she, as well as the reader, can never be sure what will happen next.

Margaret Fenton has given the reader a wonderfully written mystery in Little White Lies that has so much exciting action and so very many lies that the reader will be completely involved and not put it down until the very last page. In Claire, the author gives the reader an excellent main character that we come to care about. As the reader, we get to know Claire very well in these pages and it is easy to see a little bit of ourselves in the character. This is a woman who is strong, kind, very good at her job, and completely focused on helping others. Something that we all want to be at times. In addition, it turns out that she is a pretty good detective too.

One final thing to note about the book is that, even though it is the third in the series, it is most definitely a stand-alone novel and the reader will have no problem understanding what is going on with the story and the characters. While it is a successful mystery on its own I am guessing that after reading it, most will want to go back and read the other books as well if they have not done so yet. I know I certainly wanted to find them immediately and read more about Claire and her friends.

Quill says: This is an excellent and well-rounded story that I would recommend to anyone who loves a really good mystery. It would be a huge surprise if, after reading Little White Lies, you don’t turn around and go right out to read the first two books in the series. I, for one, cannot wait to see what happens to Claire and the others in the next book.

For more information on Little White Lies: Social Worker Claire Conover Mystery #3, please visit the author's website at: margaretfenton.com/