Little Girls Sleeping: An absolutely gripping crime thriller (Detective Katie Scott, #1)

by Jennifer Chase

He looked down at the little girl, sleeping peacefully, her arms wrapped around a teddy bear. He knew he was the only one who could save her. He could let her sleep forever.

An eight-year-old girl, Chelsea Compton, is missing in Pine Valley, California and for Detective Katie Scott it’s a cruel reminder of the friend who disappeared from summer camp twenty years ago. Unable to shake the memories, Katie vows she won’t rest until she discovers what happened to Chelsea.

But as Katie starts to investigate, accompanied by her loyal ex-military dog, Cisco, the case reveals itself to be much bigger and more shocking than she feared. Hidden deep in the forest she unearths a makeshift cemetery: a row of graves, each with a brightly coloured teddy bear.

Katie links the graves to a stack of missing-persons cases involving young girls—finding a pattern no one else has managed to see. Someone in Pine Valley has been taking the town’s daughters for years, and Katie is the only one who can stop them.

And then another little girl goes missing, snatched from the park near her home.

Katie’s still haunted by the friend she failed to protect, and she’ll do anything to stop the killer striking again—but can she find the little girl before it’s too late?

Compulsive and gripping crime fiction for fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh. Katie Scott’s first case will have you on the edge of your seat and gasping with shock.

• ISBN10: 1786818302
• ISBN13: 9781786818300
• Publish Date: 31 May 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bookouture
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 314
• Language: English

Reviews

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part of this book. Detective books are now one of my favourite genres so I was excited to start a new Detective series.

I found it difficult to get into this book but after about 10-15% I was HOOKED. I raced through the rest of the book and really struggled to put it down. There were a few times at the beginning where the author tells some really well-known crime information. If you haven't read or watched much crime based then this will be super helpful. I have read and watched a lot of crime so a lot of it was old hat for me.

Detective Katie Scott was an easy character to like. She has been through a lot and is trying to readjust to her new life. I also loved Katie's dog Cisco. Katie is determined and hard working. She risks her own life more than once in this book to bring justice for the little girls and their families.

Katie meets a range of people in the department and I hope that we will get to see these relationships grow as the series develops. I really liked the coroner, Dr Dean. He was interesting and really helpful to Katie. I think he is going to be a big supporter of her. I also loved the CSI Supervisor Jack Blackburn. I feel like this is going to be an interesting relationship. I also pictured Steve McGarrett from Hawaii Five-O (super hot)!

This book was addictive and gripping I was constantly turning page after page because I just needed to know what happened next. I am excited to see what happens next for Detective Scott.