Book Review: Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little - A letter from beyond the grave

Book Review: Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little

Before I got too far into this book I felt such a dislike for the main character that I nearly stopped reading – she was nasty, spoilt, manipulative and downright arrogant.  However, through flashbacks and scene change, Little gradually showed a different side to the character.

After spending ten years in prison for murdering her mother, Jane Jenkin's  conviction is overturned due to forensic error.  A head injury leaves her unsure whether she actually committed the murder or not and so she decides to investigate her mother’s enigmatic past to discover the truth.  However, a venomous Blogger is convinced of her guilt and is determined to track her down to exact revenge.

The setting of an old mining town Ardelle is intriguing because there is a replica town  called Adeline (now disused) built on another site so that folk could move from one site to the other depending on where mining was occurring at the time- fascinating

The story introduces us to a whole range of great characters from the sexy town Sheriff to the strange hotel owner and her wayward daughter.

Dear Daughter is a tricky little book, full of misdirection and ambiguity which kept me guessing till the lovely twist at the end.
It's written in first person with a healthy dose of humour, rhetorical questions making the reader feel part of this fast paced story.


A big recommendation to those who like the quirky, comic, yet serious crime book based in tight communities.