when he caught her with another man, a mistake she now regrets. As this novel begins, Grant returns to her life in the oddest way imaginable. Grant’s ex-employee, Regina Maynard, whom he fired for theft, has filed a complaint against him, alleging he molested her six-year-old son, Dylan.

Claire’s supervisor repeatedly warns her not to get involved in Grant’s case. Regina also shows up in person to threaten Claire. However, such warnings have never deterred an amateur sleuth in the history of detective fiction, and Claire doesn’t stop. Dylan’s testimony seems coached, but before Claire can vindicate Grant, Regina’s body turns up with a bullet in it. Grant is a suspect, of course, but Regina had many enemies, including other employers she’d stolen from and numerous ex-boyfriends, one of whom could be Dylan’s father.

As a mystery, Little Boy Blue is decent but not inspired. Claire learns the murderer’s identity when they try to kill her in the novel’s last few pages. Before that, solving the case is a matter of sheer guesswork for readers. However, the underlying investigation into the abuse allegations against Grant is far more interesting. The author had a decade of experience as a child social worker before turning to writing, and she uses that experience to paint a realistic picture of the investigative process. When the social workers first meet Dylan, they talk to him in a room with paper and coloring pencils, encouraging him to draw. Dylan’s drawings and answers to gentle questions eventually allow the social workers (and, later, the police) to learn what happened to him.

Dylan’s case isn’t the only one that affects Claire. Reese’s mother, Amara, a drug addict with a criminal history, tries to regain custody of Reese. The child wants nothing to do with her mother, but Claire and Reese must follow the legally mandated procedures. Amara’s claims of having reformed appear bogus to Claire and Reese, but the Department must follow the law, including holding a dramatic face-to-face meeting between the parties. Most readers (including me) are probably unfamiliar with these procedures, but the author’s descriptions are fascinating.

Besides the two cases in which Claire is personally involved, she looks into several other domestic matters throughout the novel. Unfortunately, the author devotes little time to these potentially interesting cases, sometimes resolving them in one or two paragraphs. Little Boy Blue is a short, taut novel, but giving readers the advantage of more of the author’s expertise by covering these cases in a short chapter instead of a page would have produced a more enjoyable book and would not have slowed the pace significantly.

I was impressed by the depth of some of the author’s characterizations. Regina, in particular, comes off as more of a victim (in more ways than one) than a villain. The author raises the stakes for Reese’s and Dylan’s futures by showing how Regina went wrong. The author also introduces some sleazy but all-too-believable secondary characters. Sadly, those descriptions seem to have been taken from the author’s experience in similar cases.

While I appreciate tight editing, the author overdoes it in Little Boy Blue. She creates some simplistic but overly convenient characters, most notably Grant. He functions as more of a plot device than an aggrieved former lover. His gradual reconciliation with Claire seems too good to be true at times. Even more convenient is his seemingly bottomless bank account (he is a technical entrepreneur), allowing him to spring for an entire new home security setup for Claire on a moment’s notice. (He then installs it personally without complaint.) Similarly, the various police departments that get involved in the story are exceedingly patient and accepting when dealing with Claire’s 911 calls. (However, as often happens in books like these, they’re exceedingly slow at solving cases unless the solution falls into their laps.)

Overall, I enjoyed Little Boy Blue a great deal. Margaret Fenton has taken the Mark Twain adage: “Write what you know,” and successfully applied it here. The cases and characters seem “ripped from the headlines,” or, more accurately, the author’s files, and make for fascinating reading. Claire is a likable, albeit flawed protagonist with good investigative instincts. The book’s problems could mostly be remedied with better and more expansive editing. Little Boy Blue is a mystery worthy of blowing the author’s horn.

NOTE: The author and publicist graciously provided me with a copy of this book. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.