Hello to all you wonderful readers!  My name is Margaret Fenton and I write the Little mysteries, LITTLE LAMB LOST, LITTLE GIRL GONE, and LITTLE WHITE LIES published by Aaakenbaaken and Kent.  They feature child welfare social worker Claire Conover.  Claire works for the fictional Jefferson County Department of Human Services in Birmingham, Alabama.  In real life several years ago, I was the mental health consultant for the Jefferson County Department of Human Resources and was surrounded by child welfare workers as my department helped to keep their clients out of foster care.  So most of my knowledge for the books came from my living it. Sort of.

          I read primarily cozy mysteries, and have for years. One of my all-time favorite writers was Anne George, who wrote the Southern Sisters series set here in Birmingham. I got to know Anne a bit before she passed away in 2001.  We were on our way to a Sisters in Crime meeting one evening and I admitted I had some interest in writing a cozy. I had a basic idea but it wasn’t going anywhere. She said “I would think that as a social worker, you come into contact with all sorts of evil people.  You could have a protagonist who is a social worker and that could be the reason she gets involved.”

          Bingo.  Thanks Anne. I went home and wrote the rough draft of LITTLE LAMB LOST. Claire gets to work one day and one of her little clients is dead from an overdose.  The police assume it’s the mother and arrest her, but Claire knows differently. There’s some romance, too, when Claire meets Grant Summerville and they begin dating.

In the second book, LITTLE GIRL GONE, Claire takes custody of a 13-year-old found sleeping behind a local Piggly Wiggly.  I would describe my books as amateur sleuth rather than cozy, but they are on the lighter side. Yes, Claire works with abused and neglected children, but all the violence is very off-screen. 

          In the third book, LITTLE WHITE LIES, a mayoral candidate’s office is bombed.  A staff member’s body is found in the rubble, and his daughter is left at a daycare overnight.  Claire takes custody of little Maddie and it turns out her deceased father was living under an assumed name.  I wanted to put a bombing in this book.  My beloved Birmingham was known as Bombingham during the Civil Rights struggle in last century, and racism is something we still continue to confront and work on here. Claire gets a foster child in this book, too, an amazing young lady named LaReesa we meet in the second book.  This puts all sorts of stress on Claire’s relationship with her boyfriend, Grant. Plus, there’s her forbidden attraction to reporter Kirk Mahoney. 

I’m working on the fourth installment, called LITTLE BOY BLUE.  I don’t want to give too much away, but you’ll get to find out what happens when you threaten someone Claire loves. Stay tuned!

A tense, taut and timely tale featuring Birmingham, Alabama child welfare social worker protagonist Claire Conover, Little White Lies is a gripping tale about secrets, revenge, temptation and the big cost of those little white lies. 

About Little White Lies:  When the office of black mayoral candidate Dr. Marcus Freedman is bombed, Claire Conover is drawn into another mystery. While Marcus is found safe, his campaign manager Jason O’Dell is found dead in the rubble. Claire’s office gets a call about Jason’s daughter Maddie who was left at her daycare, who becomes Claire’s latest charge as she investigates what happened. 

But what—or who—is behind this attack? Turns out there are more questions than answers when it is revealed that Jason O’Dell is living under an assumed name—and he’s actually Jason Alsbrook, the son of a prominent local mine owner James Alsbrook.  James Alsbrook and his mining company have an unseemly notoriety for having the most mining accidents and deaths in Alabama. Not surprisingly, there are many people who would wish harm to him and to his family. But who would’ve acted on that hatred?

As she works to keep little Maddie safe and find out who would’ve harmed Jason—and why—Claire uncovers a complex web of deception, secrets, and lies.  As she struggles to piece together this dangerous puzzle, Claire weathers the storms in her personal life as the addition of a foster child, and a burgeoning friendship with reporter Kirk Mahoney, threaten to rip apart everything Claire holds dear.  In the end, will those little white lies  come with a big cost?  Expect the unexpected in this mesmerizing Claire Conover mystery.

Brimming with tension and a pulse-quickening plot that races from page one, Little White Lies is a clever, confident and captivating read. Margaret Fenton delivers an unforgettable novel resplendent with seamless plotting, compelling characters, and a storyline to die for. A standout novel in Fenton’s critically acclaimed Claire Conover series, Little White Lies is not to be missed.

BUY LINKS
Little White Lies – By Margaret Fenton (paperback) : Target

Little White Lies book (thriftbooks.com)

Little White Lies (Paperback) – Walmart.com

Margaret Fenton writes the Little mystery series featuring child welfare social worker Claire Conover.  She spent nearly ten years as a child and family therapist for her county’s child welfare department before focusing on writing. Her work tends to reflect her interest in social causes and mental health, especially where kids are concerned. Her favorite mystery writers are too numerous to mention, but she tends to gravitate toward amateur sleuth and historical mysteries. She has been a planning coordinator of Murder in the Magic City in Birmingham, Alabama since its inception in February 2003 (mmcmysteryconference.com). Margaret lives in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover with her husband, a retired software developer, three adorable Papillon dogs, and lots and lots of books. Her website is margaretfenton.com and she loves to hear from readers.