BRILLIANT compulsive read with great characters (including Brody of coarse), high suspense & intrigue involving 2 different cases. I have read her previous books in this series & RECOMMEND all totally & eagerly await #4 Thanks to NetGalley & Bookouture for this ARC in return for my honest review.

Madison is back at work as a police officer, and trying to make up for lost time with her son, Owen. Just those two things alone are enough to keep most people busy but Madison is thrown into a case which involves the disappearance of a young mother.

Twists and turns abound here. Nate is back in this book as well, and when a close friend of his is murdered, and he gets the blame, both Madison and Nate know they are going to be very busy for quite some time to come!

This author has a way of putting things that really works for me. Her books are frequently gruesome and you need a strong stomach for some scenes in her books, but she is an excellent author and one I am looking forward to continuing to read books from.

I have read all the books in this series and even though you can read this book as a standalone, it is a good idea to start at the beginning. Can't wait to read the next one!

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

Madison puts together the answers to continual questions about what is really going on with her case. A nice addition to the series
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Wow one of the most thrilling and addictive page turned I've read in a while. Just amazing. A heart pounding rollercoaster of a read.

About Little Girl Taken: Rain rattles through the trees as she leans into the car, careful not to touch anything. Two pretty blue eyes stare back through the dark, wide with relief, or maybe fear. A baby girl, wrapped up in a pink snowsuit, reaches out a tiny hand. Her mother is nowhere to be found…

An abandoned baby is the last thing Detective Madison Harper expects to find as she drives to her first day back at work since the case that ripped her life apart. But as she cradles the shivering child close, all her instincts tell her there’s something more sinister at play. Then she finds a lone sneaker down a muddy trail nearby, the laces spattered with blood…

In a town as small as Lost Creek, Colorado, the baby and the shoe are quickly identified as belonging to Kacie Larson, a waitress at the local diner who quietly stashed away her tips to make a better life for her daughter. A mother herself, Madison can’t believe that Kacie would just abandon her child, but she also can’t convince her new team. Not for the first time, Madison feels she must go it alone to get the job done.

But when a body is pulled from a nearby lake, and it’s not Kacie, the case takes an agonizing turn. Is this missing mother really who she says she is? Is there a chance she’s still alive? Madison barely has time to think before the sweet little girl she rescued is snatched on a crowded street. Gone, in the blink of an eye.

To break this case and earn her place back on the force, Madison must learn to trust her team, and herself again—and fast. If she doesn’t find this twisted individual in time, a little girl could die…

A pulse-pounding, absolutely gripping and totally addictive page-turner that will have you racing through the pages and reeling at the twists. Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Lisa Regan and Kendra Elliot, you’ll be sleeping with the lights on!

My Thoughts: I was hoping that this novel, the third in Wendy Dranfield's series featuring detective Madison Harper, would be equally as good as the first two instalments and to my great delight, it was!

Madison is back at work after a long departure, as is Nate who has been staying at his friend, Rex's house. Madison has been reinstated as a detective at Lost Creek Police Department, and Nate is resuming his role as a private investigator. Madison comes across an abandoned, wailing baby in a wrecked car, dressed in a pink snowsuit. Trouble is afoot for Nate; a body has been found at Rex's place and Nate is a suspect...

Wendy Dranfield has once again penned a remarkable tale with so many twists that I could not put it down. The multilayered plot is enthralling and the subplots are all woven together superbly creating a compulsive police procedural. With the tension levels on the upwards ratchet, there's tonnes of action and drama as well as secrets galore. Truly brilliant.

Disclosure: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Little Girl Taken by Wendy Dranfield for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I swear this series is getting better and better! It's the third in the Detective Madison Harper series, while it can be read as a standalone I would suggest reading at least the previous book Cry For Help just to get more on the background on the characters.

Madison has got her job back as a detective but it will not be easy for her, after so many years away and suspicions about her still swirling. It doesn't help that on her first day back she finds a crashed car with a baby in the back. Where is the baby's mother and will Madison be able to find her alive? She enlists the help of her friend and PI Nate to help her crack the case.

As always with Wendy's books, she puts her characters through it! It's Nate's turn in this book when his friend Rex turns up dead, bringing with him some revelations about his Father Connor, the man he's been trying to track down for years.

This novel really hit me hard in the emotions and after I put it down, I honestly couldn't stop thinking about the ending.

Little Girl Taken is a well written and fast-paced thriller full of plenty of shocks and surprises along the way to keep you guessing. I'm very much looking forward to the next book in this series!

Another brilliant book in this series. You really get to like the main characters more and more with each book. Sad storyline of how young people who are abused can fall through the system and how the perpetrators can turn things around in their favour. Can’t wait for next one.

I absolutely loved the first book in this series and became a fan of the characters and the author before I even came close to finishing the first book! Action-packed, riveting, and compelling - you will fly through each of the books in this series eagerly and you will feel exhausted by the time you are done from all of the emotional whiplash you will experience! The characters are great, they are memorable and prominent. There are parts that are so sad, right from the opening pages of the prologue. There are also sensitive parts that left me feeling drained, but there is so much other action going on that those scenes were not overdone. Lots of whodunit to I know whodunit, to I absolutely did not know whodunit.

Absolutely brilliant and a totally compelling read. This book has all the elements to ensure I was completely hooked from start to finish. The story has dark and scary elements, excellent backstory and depth of characters and plenty of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. It also raises lots of questions and is very thought provoking in a number of ways.
The main characters are very likeable and have their own vulnerabilities and issues and the narrative was very well written. I stayed up late to finish this as I needed to know how it ended and read it in the space of a day. Definitely recommend.

My advice:
If you haven’t read the Detective Madison Harper series, you need to start now! I do recommend reading the series in order as there is so much backstory you need to know.
Little Girl Taken is the third book in the series. The first two books were terrific and this one is also.
I do have to say the character of Father Connor is getting a bit old….it made the story drag a bit for me but not enough to give a lower rating. Honestly, I’m ready to see the end of him.
I’m so excited to see how Madison’s and Nate relationship goes forward.
So many twists and turns, mystery and suspense…..
I really enjoy Wendy Dranfields writing style. I can’t wait for the next book!
Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and author, Wendy Dranfield, for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. This is the third book in this series but could be read as a standalone. I absolutely LOVED the first two books in this series and I have been eagerly waiting for this book since I finished them.

I don’t know how Wendy does it. This book is better than the first two and as I said I loved those. This book had 2 stories. The main story of the missing girl Kacie and the continued story of Nate and Father Conner.

Kacie’s story is an extremely sad and engrossing one. This poor girl has been through so much. I felt so much sympathy for her. I just wanted to mother her. She has been let down time and time again. The case kept me on edge until the very end. There were some good twists with this one which I very nearly got but not quite. Wendy did an excellent job of keeping you hooked.

The case of Nate and Father Conner was also very interesting. This story has been ongoing through the series but there is enough information given for you to be invested in this storyline. I was very happy with how this played out and think that the outcome was the right one.

I was addicted to this book from page 1 and I cannot wait to see what Maddison has in store in the next book!

I'm obsessed with this series! I absolutely love everything about it!

I generally do not like PI stories, and I also think most series lose at least some steam after the second book....but that is not a problem here!

I absolutely love the two main characters. They are flawed but so likable, and their relationship is so perfectly plutonic on the outside but so much deeper than that in reality. It's one of my favorite dynamics and so hard to master! So many authors give up and go with the romance, but I love that Dranfield continues down the Mulder and Scully route. It's just awesome, and it allows for the whole story to be focused on the crime plot rather than going off on a romantic tangent.

I also absolutely love the stories Dranfield comes up with, they're distinct and different from both each other and everything else that's coming out. I'll admit I was initially put off by the fact that there was a podcast aspect since it seems everyone is doing podcast based things now, but Dranfield manages to make that angle different by giving the host a sad backstory and a suspicious situation. So well done!

After book 2 I was eager to read how Maddy's first day back on the job would go and I was not disappointed!

I was hooked from the very first page and didn't want to put it down. My emotions were all over the place and I even had a few "omg" moments.

There are so many twists and turns to keep you guessing in this full on, fast paced thriller.

I absolutely love Maddison's character as she seems so real. Nate isn't too bad either 😜

I cannot wait for the next book in this brilliant series.

I am loving this series, I have been eagerly anticipating this latest instalment and it definitely hasn’t left me disappointed.

This is the BEST so far, I have been completely unwilling to put this down. This book however, should have some warnings for readers as it includes child abuse, rape and suicide. These topics are handled sensitively by the author.

I adore Madison, she is such a likeable characters and one that I have adored through the series. I am still rooting for her and Nate.

This is a well plotted novel, which has you suspicious of all the suspects. I have found this to be addictive and unpredictable. Dranfield is extremely talented and each book in this series gets better and better.

The pages of this one are filled with suspense and tension. I have loved this book from start to end. I absolutely need more. This is a fantastic read which is worthy of all the stars. A definite must for the TBR.

Ahhhh, book 3 was just as amazing as the first two books. I have fallen in love with Wendy Dranfield. She has done so well with this serious.

This is the third book in the Detective Madison Harper series. I have really enjoyed these mysteries and am waiting for the next book in this series. There were lots of twists and turns and secrets and puzzles

Two young girls hold hands as they jump off of a bridge, killing themselves. Years later, this tragic event will lead to a new case for Detective Madison Harper. Madison is returning to work as a detective with the Lost Creek Police Department. She has been absent from the force due to her false imprisonment for a crime that she did not commit. Her friend, private investigator Nate Monroe, who spent seventeen years on death row for a murder that he did not commit has her back. Madison not only lost six years as an officer, but six years with her son Owen. When a young waitress goes missing, Madison has no idea how this one case will spiral into two murder investigations and a chance for Nate to finally get justice for his dead fiancée and the years he spent in prison. Will the town welcome Madison back and will she be able to make all of the pieces fit into this complex puzzle? Wonderful, strong characters and a story that will keep you engaged until the very end. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

From the first book in the Detective Madison Harper series, I was hooked on both the original backstory of the main characters and the obstacles they faced in getting some degree of normality back into their lives. Last we met, Madison had found out who was behind her wrongful incarceration which saw her spend six years in prison, six years away from the job she loved and six long years away from her beloved son, Owen. In Little Girl Taken, Madison is about to start her first day back at Lost Creek Police Department as a detective. She’s nervous and excited, knowing it won’t be easy for her to trust her fellow officers immediately and expecting some backlash from the community. Luckily for her (if I can call it lucky) she doesn’t have time to let those thoughts fester as she finds a car in a ditch, inside which a baby girl lies, alone and crying.

So begins the case to find out who the child is and where the driver of the vehicle is, assuming said driver is the child’s mother. Reports of a missing waitress lead her to believe the missing woman is a waitress at a local diner.

Meanwhile, Nate, the other main character, returns from visiting his good friend, Rex, not really knowing why he has gone back to Lost Creek now that Madison has her life sorted, her son is back with her and she has her job to keep her busy. Nate, however, knows he cannot settle until Father Connor has been caught, and disturbing messages from the priest who set him up for the murder of his fiancée, torment him regularly. Progress has been made in that he’s stopped his drug use since visiting Rex, but the temptation is still there to drag him down into that dark spiral of depression.

Madison has her hands full: she and Owen are struggling to communicate well, he’s not the young boy she was forced to leave behind anymore; also, at the police department, she has been partnered with the very officer who put her away. Now that he is struggling himself, she finds herself bearing the brunt of their work and the two of them still have both different approaches to the job and very different views on getting the job done. She’s also worried about Nate. She wants to help him, but is so busy, and she’s concerned he might leave Lost Creek and hunt for Father Connor by himself.

Little Girl Taken sees Madison take on her first major case with gusto and empathy, digging deep in the the missing mother’s life to reveal a tragic and heartbreaking tale of untreated trauma. The path Madison takes to learn these facts is deliciously convoluted as the author drops clues like confetti. The way the story twists and turns makes it an absolute page-turner. Added to Madison’s complicated life, poor Nate isn’t having a great time either when yet more tragedy befalls him, putting him back on the police’s radar for another murder. He knows Father Connor is behind matters, and can delay no longer in hunting him down. It’s dramatic, tense and excrutiatingly difficult to watch Nate break down. He will need to rely on Madison to get him through this latest episode.

This is a very clever crime thriller that had me second guessing everyone in Lost Creek at some point. Brody, the K9-trained dog is a star, as always, his training as a cadaver dog being used widely throughout the investigation. A new character – Vince Rader – is established as one to watch. He’s runs a crime podcast and is keen to interview Madison and Nate, but he also employed the missing woman. On top of that, he is grieving the loss of his wife and grandson and trying to ignore the aspersions cast his way that he was responsible in some way. He manages to appear to be both a bad guy and a good guy at times before his true self is laid bare, and he really is as genuine as he makes out. Hopefully, he’ll be part of Nate’s decision as to whether his future is in Lost Creek or not. I’m pretty convinced Madison and Owen want him to stick around.

I’ll be keeping an eye for the next instalment; Wendy Dranfield has becomes one of of must-read authors. Thanks go to Netgalley, Wendy and the publishers for my copy of this book which I’ve reviewed voluntarily and with the greatest of pleasure. My only query is regarding the book cover which didn’t seem to relate to the story at all, although it does match the style of others in the series and also the market for crime thrillers. Does it matter that it doesn’t go with the story, IMHO? Probably not, but if we’re led to believe that covers sell books, then this wouldn’t have done so for me. Luckily, the author’s name alone is enough for me to choose this one.

Oh. My. Goodness! Returning to the Detective Madison Harper series for the third title, Little Girl Taken, was an emotional, suspenseful, chilling roller coaster ride from start to finish. This series just gets better as it moves forward and I am here for the long haul as Madison Harper’s world gets more involved, more intense, and certainly, more dangerous. While this one “could” stand on its own I believe you’d really get a better feel for what the main characters have gone through to get to this point by starting the series from the beginning, if you can.

As Little Girl Taken is a Crime/Suspense/Thriller novel you will not find details about the storyline in this review — you can find everything you need to make the decision to pick this one up in the cover blurb. I so dislike when a story is spoiled for me by too many details in reviews, so you’ll enjoy this one more by diving into it firsthand. But I will say that if you love a story that will have you flipping pages quickly to get more information all the while holding onto something solid as the suspense and danger increases… well, you’ve found the perfect book for that.

Madison’s first day back on the job is more harrowing than simply facing her co-workers at the police station. She’s come across a damaged car with an abandoned baby inside… and not too far away, a blood-splattered sneaker. Nate isn’t having the greatest of days either as he is about to face his past as his future becomes threatened. They’d hoped that the worst was behind them only to discover that evil has no expiration date.

Little Girl Taken is full of twists, turns, red herrings, danger, intrigue… and that ending! If you love putting together intricate puzzles then you will feel right at home with this story. This case is so full of sub-plots that slowly come to the surface to surprise not only the reader but the investigators as well. I love this author’s way with words, she truly will weave a world around you and draw you in so subtly that the ending of the story has arrived before you realized you’d been awake long beyond bedtime to finish. When an author can draw me in like that then I’ll gladly follow wherever their books lead me. I would not hesitate to recommend the latest story in the Detective Madison Harper series to anyone who loves a good story. If you love suspense, thrillers, or crime procedurals that’s a bonus but at the heart Little Girl Taken is a really good story that will capture your attention until the final page… and then wonder when the next book will be available.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

This just has to be her best one yet!

It really is gripping, edge of your seat stuff!

This is the third instalment following Detective Madison Harper and PI Nate Monroe (and of course ex police K9 Brody). On her first day back on the job (if you have read the first books you will know why!) Madison discovers an abandoned car and on inspection she finds a baby girl all alone. As the story progresses Madison has to find out why the baby has been left alone, who was driving, where is her mum?
This story will pull you in and not let go!! Clear your diary when you start reading it.
As well as the police case, the story continues to follow the trials and tribulations of Madison and Nate. You will find it very difficult to put it down, you will say, just one more chapter but that just doesn’t work as you will have so many questions that need answering.

I would definitely recommend this to everyone, ideally read the first two books first so the story flows. There is so much more to learn about about these characters so I’m hoping for more books in this series and can’t wait to read them.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and most importantly the author, for the chance to read this book, in exchange for an honest review.