Twelve year old Helen Jones disappeared twenty-three years ago. Now a confession has been found and handed to the police. Childhood friend of Helen and now due to blindness an ex-detective, Naomi Blake is eager to find out any information from her boyfriend Detective Alec Friedman. But the police are also investigating the death of Sarah Clarke aged six.
An enjoyable read
( )

Having a blind, ex-police detective as the main character is what drove me to read Mourning the Little Dead, and the characters are the strongest part of the book. I enjoyed seeing the world from the point of view of a blind person, and her service dog Napoleon is a gem. Naomi is able to keep up with most points of the investigation because her boyfriend Alex is a police officer, and she has a wonderful, supportive group of friends to help her. Of those, my favorite is the teenage Patrick who has a very level-headed way of seeing things-- and who loves spending time with Napoleon.

For me, the weakness in the book is the fact that I deduced the killer's identity very early, and once that happened most of my interest in the book waned, regardless how much I liked the characters. However, I do like Adams' writing style and her characters enough to be interested in reading the next book in the series. ( )