Jennifer Chase Spotlights Series Characters, Detective Katie Scott and Cisco,, in Little Girls Sleeping!

Like a gavel hitting a judge’s desk, a memory fell sharply to the front of Katie’s mind, of when she was at camp around the same age as the missing girl. It was one of the most memorable times in her childhood and she could still remember all the friends she had made, as well as the fun activities. She had learned archery that year, which later helped with her skill as a sharpshooter. There was swimming, hiking, canoeing, and various crafts. It was a wonderful lifelong memory of fun, friends, and surviving through the growing pains of being an adolescent. But… 
She also had a much darker recollection of that time. It was something that had always haunted her, one of the defining moments of her life: the last conversation she had with her friend Jenny. 
“Hi, Katie,” said Jenny eagerly, revealing a mouthful of braces. Her enthusiasm sometimes overrode her shyness. She was one of the nicest girls Katie had met at camp and the two of them had immediately struck up a friendship. 
“Hi,” replied Katie, beaming with joy. “Where were you? I looked for you before we went canoeing. It was so much fun. You would have loved it.” 
“Oh.” Jenny looked down. “I was… well, I was running late and didn’t really feel like it.”
Katie had noticed that Jenny would disappear at times and not participate in group activities. “Well, we’re going again at three. You want to come?” she asked. “Please come,” she insisted. 
Jenny’s eyes lit up and she replied, “That sounds like fun.” “Good. I’ll meet you right here a little bit earlier. Okay?” 
“Okay, I’ll be there,” Jenny answered as she smiled, clearly excited. But Katie never saw or talked to Jenny again. 
She waited for her as arranged, but Jenny never showed up. She didn’t want to be late for the canoe class, so she left without her friend. When Jenny didn’t appear at the canoe dock or later at dinner, counselors realized that she was missing from the campgrounds. 
A casual search began, but soon it was established that law enforcement was needed to continue looking for the girl. There was no sign of her. 
Two weeks after Katie returned home that summer, she overheard that a body had been found two counties away. It was identified as that of Jenny Daniels. According to the news, her parents had been involved in a nasty custody battle. When they couldn’t come to an amicable agreement, things turned deadly, and her dad killed both Jenny and her mom. 
Memories of that incident haunted Katie for a long time, and still continued today. She had known something hadn’t seemed right about Jenny’s behavior. If only she had pressed her to find out what was wrong at the time. 
If only she had stayed with her and not made a plan to meet her later. 
If only…

~~~

Little Girls Sleeping

By Jennifer Chase

Katie saw her familiar black Jeep Wrangler.
 Inside, jumping from window to window
 and barking with pure joy, was a large
 black  German shepherd. She dropped her
backpack, ran to the car, and
 opened the door. “Cisco!”
 she exclaimed, choking back tears. The
dog whined, spun around several times,
then licked her for several minutes,
 before
repeating the whole process again.
His joy was clearly evident.
~~~

Katie Scott was happy to be home from the service where she had been added to the K9 unit, primarily, to find explosive devices, along with her partner, Cisco. She was fortunate to have been able to make arrangements for him to come home with her! But now what were they going to do here?

It wasn't very long before she was a detective, once again hunting...but now for a missing 8 year old girl, Chelsea Compton.

As soon as she learned of the case, she was thrown back in a memory of one of the most traumatic experiences of her childhood...when she had made a friend, Jenny, at Summer Camp and was, first disappointed that she hadn't made it for an event...and later, even though she had said she would meet her, Jenny again didn't show up... She was later found dead... Katie was unable to escape the memories and vowed now that she would discover what had happened to Chelsea...

In a psychological thriller, the writer's, I would imagine, biggest issue is the "why" that serial killers do what they do. Chase presents us with an "almost" sorrowful victim for us to understand. This one began with building the coffins before he started searching for the Perfect occupant... Nevertheless, the killings must be stopped! 

Katie initially was started on records and she was becoming familiar with her new job and department. But she always had the missing girl, Chelsea, in the back of her mind. And so as she was filing, she realized that there were cold cases that were included. She was able to pick out similar cases; she knew this was the beginning of putting together what could be pieced together to solve both the present and cold cases possibly!

Then she started asking questions about the cold cases...and got the cold shoulders of those who had headed each case. While she continued to search the files, the tension was growing and she could feel herself losing control of her life--maybe it was true that anybody who came back from the service would experience some form(s) of PTSD. And one of those symptoms was dreaming, this time with a little girl, turning to her and crying, "Please help me."

Katie was picking up clues and pinpointing potential areas in which the victims might have been taken. In the meantime, the killer had found Dena, perfect for his new coffin...

And in the end, the search paid off... Katie...with the help of Cisco, found evidence that was more than she could ever have imagined...

Chase is already a favorite author for me...Katie and Cisco make a great team and I look forward to her next in series! Do check it out! Highly recommended.


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