Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little is an
excellent debut mystery filled with interesting characters, twists and turns,
and a fast pace. Janie Jenkins is fresh out of prison. Ten years ago, this “It
Girl” was incarcerated for the murder of her high society mother. Released on a
technicality, Jane is determined to figure out who really killed her mother.
And is the killer looking for her?
Small town Dakota is the starting point. As Janie delves
deeper into her mother’s former life, finds photographs, reads an old diary,
she begins to admire her mother’s climb from oblivion to a new name to a life
of money. And the mother she herself dismissed, turns out to have
had quite a life. Dirt poor but resourceful, Tessa wasn’t meant to be held
back. Janie, in her journey, learns to admire her intelligent mother.
From the cover blurb – As she digs tantalizingly deeper,
and as suspicious locals begin to see through her increasingly fragile façade,
Janie discovers that even the sleepiest towns hide sinister secrets – and will
stop at nothing to guard them. On the run from the press, the police, and maybe
even a murderer, Janie must choose between the anonymity she craves and
the truth she so desperately needs.
Janie is not initially likeable, but her story is compelling
and you will want to turn the pages. The author knows how to push our buttons
and Janie’s in the search for the truth. Who is the killer? Dear Daughter
will satisfy your thirst to know.
