Daddy's Little Girl

Rating:
Summary: Mary Higgins Clark Can Keep You in Suspense!
Review: I've always really enjoyed Mary Higgins Clark a lot. I felt this book was another winner yet.

Ellie Cavanaugh was only seven years old when her fifteen year old sister was murdered near their home in Oldham-on-the Hudson, a rural village in New York's Westchester County. There were three suspects; Rob Wetserfield, who was nineteen year old scion of a weathy, prominent family, whom Andrea has been secretly dating. Then there is Paul Stroebel, a sixteen year old schoolmate who has a crush on Andrea. And Will Nebels, a local handyman in his forties.

It was Ellie who had led her parents to a hideout in which Andrea's body was found wrapped in a blanket with her dead. This hideaway was a secret place where Andrea met her friends often. Ellie was blamed by her parents for her sisters death for not telling them where this place was. It was also Ellie's testimony that convicted Rob Westerfield, sending him to prison for the next twenty three years.

When Rob comes up for parole, Ellie, now an investigative reporter for an Atlanta newspaper, protests his release. Nonetheless, the convicted killer is set free and returns to Oldham. Determined to thwart his attempts to whitewash his reputation, Ellie also returns to Oldham, intent on creating a Website and writing a book that will conclusively prove his guilt. Until she is able to prove Rob guilty, Ellie will not be able to lay her sister's murder and her grief to rest. But Ellie better watch her back, because she's also in danger all the way.
Someone is after her to stop.

Rating:
Summary: Daddy's Little Girl....
Review: Is one of the best I have read from MHC. It is great to know that there are still some twisted tricks up her sleeve! I want to know what she thinks of next!!!

Rating:
Summary: Not her very best, but it's up there.
Review: MHC is my all-time favorite author and I've read most of her work. This is a good one.

Rating:
Summary: Guilty or Innocent
Review: Never having read one of Mary Higgins Clark's books before I was somewhat skeptical when I chose to read "Daddy's Little Girl." After only reading the first chapter, I knew that I had made a good decision in picking this book. This book was very interesting and was able to keep my attention until the very last words.

The story begins when seven-year-old Ellie Cavanaugh finds her fifteen-year-old sister, Andrea, dead as the result of a brutal murder in the garage of wealthy Mrs. Westerfield. The garage was the secret hideout of Andrea and some of her friends. After learning of how she might have been able to save her sister's life, Ellie felt very guilty because she had known that Andrea was to meet Rob Westerfield, Mrs. Westerfield's grandson, at the garage that night. If only Ellie would have told her parents, Andrea might have been still alive. Two days after the funeral, Rob was arrested and charged with first-degree murder while still saying that he was innocent.

The death of Andrea split the Cavanaugh family apart. Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh eventually separated. Mrs. Cavanaugh and Ellie moved around the country continuously for many years while Mr. Cavanaugh stayed in New York, remarried, and had a son. Mrs. Cavanaugh became an alcoholic and eventually passed away. Ellie never seemed to completely recover from the loss of her sister by still feeling guilty.

Twenty-three years later, Ellie is now thirty years old, lives in Atlanta, Georgia and is an investigative reporter with the Atlanta News. She decides to return home to New York when Rob Westerfield is set to come up for parole the third time. Ellie is determined to do something in order to prevent Rob from getting out of prison.

While in New York, Ellie plans to meet and talk with many people in order to find out more information on the murderer Rob Westerfield. Shortly after arriving in her room at the local inn, Ellie finds out that the Westerfields are going to hold a press conference concerning the new evidence they have saying that the real killer was Paulie Stroebel, the friend of Andrea's and worker at the service station. Jake Bern, a best selling true crime writer, now plans to write a book about Andrea's death and Rob Westerfield's innocence.

After meeting with Marcus Longo, the retired detective who covered the murder case, and Mrs. Hilmer, the Cavanaugh's neighbor, Ellie called Maggie Reynolds, who was a New York book editor whom she had dealt with before. Maggie decides she would like to go toe-to-toe to Bern's book with one from Ellie. Ellie's book is supposed to prove Rob Westerfield's guilt and Paulie Stroebel's innocence. Ellie then moved out of the inn and into Mrs. Hilmer's guest apartment from where she began to do some research on the case.

With the help from some others, Ellie starts to find the locations of some people who may have been involved with Westerfield at some time. This includes some former classmates and teachers at the private schools that Rob attended, a waitress at a restaurant that the Westerfield's dined at, the brother of the man who was framed for the attempt at old Mrs. Westerfield's life, and some former inmates who resided with Rob in prison. The information and stories that she received prompted her to start a website, which documented them. Also, while digging for evidence of Rob's guilt Ellie finds that he may have committed another murder. The website and its content enrages the Westerfield's and other town members who think that Rob is innocent.

Ellie's life has now become in danger. First, someone breaks into the apartment that she is staying in but all that she notices is different is the addition of a sentence to her article on her computer. Using towels that were apparently stolen from the apartment soaked in gasoline, someone sets fire to the apartment nearly killing Ellie. The police try to say that she set the fire in order to draw attention to herself.

Rob Westerfield or someone else associated with him is now following Ellie at almost all times. Luckily, Ellie's father and stepbrother have also been following her which has saved her a few times. Ellie is very brave and doesn't realize how much danger she is really in. She does finally realize it and moves farther away and not just from inn to inn. From her new location, Ellie continued to collect new evidence and work on her book.

The book "Daddy's Little Girl" by Mary Higgins Clark provided me with a good reading experience. The descriptions of the characters were very detailed. The plot was very interesting and held my attention through out the whole book. In conclusion, I would recommend this book to any young or older reader who would like a book that is interesting and is able to keep your attention.

Rating:
Summary: No no no
Review: Since so many people enjoy her books I thought I would give her a try. I purchased this and another one of her books since it was on sale. I had never read anything by her before. It was awful. There was very little character development and I didn't care what happened to any of them. After reading this I bought the other back without ever reading it. It reminded me of the one Danielle Steele novel I read years ago.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent murder mystery!
Review: There is no doubt Daddy's Little Girl is a great book. The murder of Andrea is vicious and from the start I felt immense anger at the one who takes away such a young and innocent life. I was so absorbed in the story I just couldn't put the book down. The ending is satisfying; I would be surprised if someone can come up with a better one. I recommend this book to people who sleep if they read a dull story, because this one will never even lets their eyes droop!

Rating:
Summary: Should I keep going?
Review: This was the first book I've read by her and i was BORED. Some books get you to spend the entire reading guessing how it's going to end (making you feel pretty smart if you guessed something close, or happy the book had such an unpredictable ending if you weren't) but this book needed no guessing. We knew who did it, how he did it, and surprise! he killed another person that we know nothing about and have no attachments to. I hear MHC usually writes a decent book...but this was a bad introduction to her collection.