by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Little Girl Gone, and a link to purchase it from Amazon, and an indie bookstore where a portion of the sale goes to help support KRL.

It’s got to be a parent’s worst nightmare. Go out for an evening, leave the baby with a reliable sitter, and come home to find the sitter beaten and the baby missing. The parents are wealthy so a ransom demand is expected but never comes.

Afton Tangler’s job is liaison between the police department and the victims. She relays information, calms and comforts, and makes sure her partner, Max, has both a sounding board and someone to write up his notes. She’s also pretty good at finding patterns in what look like unrelated bits and pieces.

Take for instance, the baby’s mom spoke to a doll maker at a craft fair at the mall. The woman made such realistic baby dolls. That shouldn’t have anything to do with a kidnapped child, but Afton’s not so sure.

The baby’s daddy has a few secrets of his own that are bound to come out, but are they enough to include him in the plot? And then there’s the guy who delivered a pizza no one ordered.

When a murder victim is found, a witness of sorts, Afton’s sure she’s on the right track, but the trail is so faint, will they be able to follow it and find the baby in time?

To say much more about the storyline would give away too much of the plot. Gerry Schmitt writes cozy mystery series as Laura Childs. This is her first thriller, and it’s a page-turner. The setting is Minneapolis in the winter. Bundle up—she writes the weather so well, your hands and feet will be cold just reading about the snow falling.

Afton is a good character. She’s ambitious, willing to take a risk although nothing too stupid, and has a great family life with her two daughters and her sister. She and Max get along well as partners and friends.

Set aside a chunk of reading time. You’ll be so anxious to see how it ends, you’ll want to read non-stop. At 325 pages, it will take a while, but that’s the enjoyment of it—wanting to read faster without coming to the end.

This is the first book about Afton. The second, Shadow Girl, keeps up the pace. It was reviewed at KRL, too.

To enter to win a copy of Little Girl Gone, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “little girl,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen March 17, 2018. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

Little Girl Gone (Afton Tangler Thriller #1)

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She writes about eco-friendly topics, pets and wildlife for magazines and reviews mysteries and thrillers for KRL. A collection of her short stories, published by Untreed Reads, From Hay to Eternity: Ten Tales of Crime and Deception can be found at all the usual outlets. Each one is a little weird and all have a twist you won’t see coming.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases using those links. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.