After getting a phone call from a young girl hiding in a wardrobe the police are unsure what to expect. On finding the girl and a dead woman they are surprised when the husband tells them that the girl is not his daughter. Who is she and where is his daughter Ella. This is a fast paced story with lots going on. All the time you find yourself wanting to read just one more chapter.

This is a real white knuckle read and I found myself racing through it as I was desperate to see how it ended. There is a lot going on, though, so I also did a bit of back tracking to keep up with the many characters involved. Well written, excellently paced and intriguingly dark, this is a must read for lovers of psychological thrillers.

The Little Girl in the Wardrobe is an intense crime thriller that is very fast-paced and intriguing. This is a part of a series but it is easily read as a standalone. Detectives Tanzy and Byrd are investigating a case in which a young girl calls the police for help while hiding in a wardrobe. Very quickly they realize that all is not what it seems as the bodies start to pile up.
This book was very fast-paced and I could tell that I was going to be in for a ride right away. Set over the course of five to six days this book has missing children, gangs, a psychopath intent on killing and more. This was a very good read and worked very well as a standalone. The only thing that was hard to follow was there are a lot of different characters to keep track of. Overall a great read for fans of crime thrillers!
Thank you to NetGalley, C.J Grayson, and Joffe Books for this ARC. Expected publishing date is January 16th 2025.

This is book four in the series featuring Tanzy and Byrd, although this was the first in the series for me and also the first book I had read by C.J. Grayson, it didn't matter one bit.

In Warrington Selena Goldberg was in a restaurant sipping her drink, but what exactly is she up to and who is she? What connection does she have to the murder in Darlington?

In Darlington in the North of England a call comes through, a young girl called Anya is hiding in a cupboard in her bedroom, and a woman has been stabbed in the kitchen. The intruder is still in the house and advice is given to the child to stay hidden. When the police arrive at the house in Houghton Road, they find the body in the kitchen.
But some things just don't add up.
Who exactly is Anya?
When another body turns up in the hospital grounds, who is it? Is it connected to the previous murder?
But where is Ella? She is still missing after the murder of her mother Mia, the first of many murders in the locality. Are they connected?
At the end of the book I was literally chewing my fingernails as I read the last few chapters. It is certainly a gripping storyline with a ending that keeps you on the edge of your seat. My heart was racing along with the police officers cars as they concluded their search.
It is full of tension and suspense that certainly keeps your attention throughout the book. A thrilling five-star read from me.

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Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for this eCopy to review

The Little Girl In The Wardrobe, is a crime thriller with a huge twist. The story follows Detectives Tanzy and Byrd as they investigate a chilling case involving a young girl named Anya, who makes a desperate call to the police from her hiding spot in a wardrobe. They find Anya's mother murdered and Anya missing. The detectives must piece together the clues to find Anya and uncover the truth behind the horrific events.

The book starts off strong, with a heart-pounding opening scene that sets the tone for the rest of the novel. I could almost hear Anya's terrified whispers and feel the tension as the detectives arrived at the crime scene. The atmosphere was palpable, and I was eager to see how the mystery would unfold.

However, I felt there were too many characters, I found it difficult to keep track of who was who, especially as they are referred to by either their first or surnames

One aspect I did appreciate was the setting. The author did a fantastic job of bringing the north of England to life, and I could easily picture the small, semi-detached houses and the eerie crime scenes. The writing style was also commendable, with vivid descriptions and a good pace that kept the story moving.

Overall, "The Little Girl In The Wardrobe" is a solid read for fans of crime thrillers,

This was quite gripping and I really got into it. I hadnt read any of the other books in the series but that didnt seem to matter (it did confuse me sometimes when they were called by their first or second names)

It was quite dark and at times I didnt know where it was going but it all became apparent.

This book made me sit of and take notice from the very first page. It’s dark and edgy and very original, I honestly haven’t read anything quite like it before. There is a brutal murder with a child, seemingly, involved to the point of enabling it to happen but then she’s the little voice that calls the incident into the police to raise an alarm, in whispered tones from the sanctity of a wardrobe and can’t solve the mystery herself as her memory has been affected by a bang to the head. The storyline has several very dark and twisted threads, each of which had me transfixed and wound themselves seamlessly into one common thread. There is criminal underworld violence and a very real sense of threat and plenty of suspense, terror and intrigue. I loved the level of insight into the personalities and home lives of the main police characters and, as a police wife myself thought it a very empathic and realistic portrayal. Overall really loved this and was left wanting more.

A terrified little girl, Anya, phones police to say she is trapped in the house with a killer who has a knife, and he’s already killed someone. Then the line goes dead. Detective Inspector Byrd and Tanzy are quickly dispatched to the crime scene where they find a mother murdered, and a mysterious little girl who is not an occupant of the house. This first crime scene sends detectives scrambling to solve the murder, except more bodies keep piling up, and they all seem to be centered around this mysterious little girl.

This story was wonderfully fast paced and kept me enthralled until the very end. It does not read like a typical crime novel in the best way! It felt like a horror movie that instilled an impending sense of doom from the very beginning.

I was not aware that this was part of a series until after I downloaded it but that did not detract from the overall book, and I believe it’s safe to say this fairs well as a standalone read.

The Little Girl in the Wardrobe will be on my mind for a long time! Thank you to NetGalley, CJ Grayson, and Joffe books for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

It stars off with a phonecall from a little girl who is asking for help, and when help arrives the body of a woman is found, the little girl who called for help, anya, is in the wardrobe but the dead womans husband says his daughter is ella and not anya.
After the quick start it hen it quickly expands onto a storyline of killings, missing girls and gangs.
It was quite a quick moving book and flows really well, and it doesnt stall at any point, I got an arc copy and didnt know there were books before it, it wouldnt have made much difference, but would have gave more depth to some of the chaaracters.
Thank you to NetGalley, Joffe Books and c.j.grayson

Part of a series. Tense thriller with many twists and turns,good characters and will keep you guessing.

Going well against the trend on reviews for this book by saying I found it too far fetched. I didn’t think it was an easy read in fact it took me two goes to get into it.

I read this as an ARC. All opinions are my own.

A huge thank you for the privilege to read this and provide a review.

When people are murdered and children are seen at the scene of the crime, what happens next? Are they serial killers, or is someone else? This twisty read follows a few points of view to spin an elaborate and well written plot. The steady build up to the ending is well done and the end was satisfying. Highly recommend read for all that enjoy a good murder mystery with some very strange twists.

This is the first book of C.J Grayson's that I've read and it was fantastic! So many different parts of it all keeping you gripped from the very beginning then coming together for mind-blowing conclusions! Highly recommend!

4.5 stars

Remind me never to move to Darlington! There can't be many people left to kill or kidnap there but at least all of the bad people are dead or in jail now. It starts with a terrible mistake and ends with a trail of destruction.

A great read, fast paced but not so fast that details are lost and easily readable as a standalone if you have not read the full Tanzy & Byrd series.

full review on my blog.

Overall a good crime fiction novel. Some parts I wasn't a huge fan of. They were a little far fetched.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I hadn’t read the first books as I didn’t know about them but it didn’t seem like you needed to know any backstory as it brushed over everything.

The plot was good, some parts were extremely far fetched which I wasn’t a huge fan of as the rest was quite realistic so it was just a little odd for me personally.

Overall a good book, I loved the update part at the end where it said what happened to everyone.

I didn't see that this was part of a series - therefore I quite struggled with the characters and getting to know them. The lots of names in this book didn't really help - so I felt a little bit at lost.

The story itself was quite entertaining.

I would have enjoyed it probably more if I would have known the characters beforehand - my mind kept drifting a little bit :)

Tense, multi layered thriller with enough red herrings to have the reader scrambling in several directions. Murders aplenty and the mysterious involvement of young children. We also have a missing child who disappears after a terrified child calls police to her home where her young mum has been horrifically slaughtered. However all is not what it seems and the child making the call from the wardrobe is not related to the dead mother. .her child has disappeared! So begins a frantic scramble to find the missing child and the pursuit of the vicious killer . Throw in drug lords, mysterious health clinic and very believable police officers and you have all the ingredients for an excellent crime thriller!

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the eARC of this the fourth installment in the DI Byrd and DI Tanzy series. I've read other works by this author but this is the first I've read in the series. It won't be my last.

A frantic call from a young girl comes into the emergency services. She's hiding in a wardrobe, afraid for her life after she saw a killing. Byrd and Tanzy, together with their team arrive to find a woman dead on the kitchen floor, young Anya hiding, and another girl missing. Did the murderer take her? Is she hiding like Anya? Excellent well written, fast-moving plot with many layers and twists. I'll be reading more of this series. 4 out of 5 stars.

The delightful duo, Tanzy and Byrd, have a rather gory murder to investigate. A little girl hiding in a wardrobe had phoned the emergency services and gabbled that the nasty man had done something to mummy who was covered in blood and that he was coming to get her, Anya. Mummy indeed was dead and Anya petrified but alive when our detectives arrived. Father was contacted and rushed to the hospital only to find that Anya was not his daughter. This leads into several, intertwining threads but the story is well told and this doesn't confuse the reader (other than the red herrings). Set in dear old Darlo (Darlington) the atmosphere is right, the characters are brilliant and it's nice to see detectives with more or less normal lives. Well plotted, this is the fourth in a series, I hope not the last. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.