A cracking opener. We atart by learning about the history of Tess and how her team comes together. They are protecting a little girl whos parents are taken by unknown gang.
The narrator was spot on good usage of accents . High quality. Although a fairly complex story it was self contained and i look forward ti the bext instalement.
I loved the team characters And learning of their hustory. Story was skillfully told and narrated. Full of axtion from the start and a carrot that hopefully eventually we might find out who killed tess's dad.
Throughly enjoyable and entertaining listening felt quick . Cracking 5 star listen. Thanks to netgallery and publisher and author and narrator

The first in the Tessa Burns series, Little Witness provides the background/origin of Tessa and her hand selected special team.

Sharing similar childhoods and each bringing their own unique strengths (and personal demons).The team's first case sees them trying to reunite little Ashling Connelly with her parents after she's found in a shipping container (on her family's land) and reports that men took her parents away.

Causing you to challenge initial perceptions throughout, moments of horror and tension are included alongside those that are touching and heart breaking throughout.

Proving that not all the countryside is as idyllic as it seems, this is a great introduction to plucky Tessa and her determined team. A great addition to the crime genre, it offers a different slant to police procedural crime and I look forward to seeing what they get up to in book 2.

Little Witness (DI Tessa Burns Book 1) by S.A. Dunphy
(Narrated by Melanie MacHugh)

Perfectly written crime fiction! I love the relationship between DI Tessa Burns and the little girl Aisling Connolly. i enjoy reading how the story has developed. What an intriguing read. DI Tessa Burns series will be one of my favourites. I cannot wait to read the next instalment! The narrator let all the characters alive....!

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pub date: Feb 12, 2024

The first in a new series featuring Detective Tessa Burns who forms a new team to help the vulnerable mainly children. When Aisling Connolly is found alone it's up to Tessa to gain her trust. Utterly gripping with good characters and a interesting plot that holds you till the end. Melanie Machugh is an excellent narrator who adds to the book with her characterisations. Thanks to Bookoutre Audio and Netgalley for this review ARC.

This is a Police Mystery Suspense, and this is the first book in the DI Tessa Burns series. I got pulled into this story right away, but this story is pace is slow moving before the first character then it picks up again. I had a little bit of trouble keeping myself into the story while it was slow moving, but I loved the story once it got going again. I cannot wait to pick up the next book in this series. I love the characters, and I love how different all the characters are. I did listen to the audiobook of this book, and the narrator was ok. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

Two of the things that is cool about this police procedural is it has non-traditional police officers on the team. One lady has cerebral palsy and it in a wheelchair and has a service dog, Pavlov. And you know how I am about dogs in books. Another of her team was headed to jail. The second thing is we watch Tessa build her team and how they learn to be a team and build each other up. There is also a case to solve, but that is expected in this type of book.

Her team focuses on helping children. They work to solve what happened to a child’s parents. And it hits a little too close to home for Tessa. I am intrigued by the people with no face from her past and can’t wait to see where that goes.

I like the quirky team and its members. I liked that the story was a little gritty. And I loved learning a little about each of the members as they acclimated to each other.

I had the audiobook in addition to the ebook and thought Melanie MacHugh did a great job narrating the book. I loved her accent and didn’t have any difficulty following along like I have with some narrators with accents.

This book starts a new series by talented Irish crime writer S.A. Dunphy. I loved his Boyle & Keneally series and since I wanted more of that series I was a bot hesitant about this new series - with, of course, completely fresh characters. This is a police procedural, so the team at the middle of this story is investigating a crime but not only that. They have been put together to help the most vulnerable - children. In this case Aisling Connolly who was found after hiding for two days on her parents farm after they were abducted while she remained unnoticed and hidden. It takes special investigative skills to get Aisling to remember and it also takes a special skill set to work with young kids. Tessa Burns and her team have those skills and this is propulsive exciting story told with an eye not for the perpetrator but for the victims. This was fantastic and i especially loved the audio narration that transported me right to Ireland !

I really wanted to love Little Witness, but it didn't stand out to me too much from others in the genre. Ultimately, I don't think this book was for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This Irish police procedural is the first in a new series focusing on DI Tessa Burns. She’s focused, driven, and tough - but don’t call her “boss!” She’s determined to treat every member of her carefully curated team as equals.

Having experienced something similar in her childhood, Burns is determined to keep a young girl, Aisling, safe after men stormed into her house causing her mother to tell her to RUN! Two days after running, Aisling is found but she doesn’t know where her parents are. Burns helps the girl remember as much as she can from the event in hopes of finding Aisling’s parents…and hopefully alive. Twists and turns ensue, leading readers down one path then another.

There was A LOT of details and information, often on character backgrounds, that I found confusing at times. I found myself having to go back and relisten to sections to understand who they were talking about. There were also a couple of side plots that I felt paused the suspenseful continuity of finding Aisling’s parents.

Melanie MacHugh did a wonderful job narrating!

This was a three star read for me which means while I didn’t necessarily connect with it and wasn’t super engaged, I recognize other readers may consider this four or five stars.

Thank you NetGalley, S.A. Dunphy, and Bookouture for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook ahead of its proposed release date of February 12th.

This was a wild ride and I loved it! I now have another series to my ever-growing list!! I can't wait for the next installment! This was my 1st book by S.A. Dunphy but I am adding all of his books to my TBR!

#LittleWitness
#NetGalley

4.25*

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book in a potential series of police procedural thrillers focused on DI Tessa Burns. Burns rescues a child and works to gain her trust with the help of a family liaison officer to uncover what happened to her parents. Tessa uncovers an entire network of underground crime and is forced to remember a bit of her childhood.

I got the audiobook version and 10/10 narration, it was engaging and made the story come alive. I'm glad they chose an Irish narrator for an Irish-based book. Her voice was perfectly matched to the character.

This was a really solid book! The author did a great job building out the characters without making the information feel spoon-fed to the reader and the plot was interesting. It reads like any other police procedural book so you know what to expect and have an idea of how it'll end. The pacing was perfect, there was not a single moment where I was staring into the void waiting for things to move along.

I'd love for the series to continue, police procedural books are some of my guilty pleasure pallet cleaners.

📖🎧”Little Witness" by S.A. Dunphy is a jaw-dropping Irish crime fiction masterpiece. Seven-year-old Aisling Connolly's harrowing journey, coupled with Detective Tessa Burns' own haunting past, creates a gripping narrative. The audiobook, with its compelling narrator, heightens the suspense, making it an immersive experience. A tale of resilience and twisted mysteries that kept me on edge.

WOW 🤩 I usually tend to stay away from detective series as I find them really overdone but I thoroughly enjoyed this one, I didn’t see any of the twists coming and the story was really easy to follow. I can’t wait to see where the story takes us next.
and a special mention to the narrator, Melanie MacHugh, who done an absolutely fantastic job.

⭐️ 4.5 STARS ROUNDED UP
———————
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher, Bookouture, for the opportunity to review this book.

These books are filled with unexpected twists. #DITessaBurns works with her team in Ireland’s Special Detective Unit & are invested in working with the children in their cases.

Tessa, Danny, Maggie & her pup, Pavlov(my fav) work together seamlessly. We’re introduced to them on a case very similar to Tessa’s own childhood trauma that still impacts her today.

An outstanding & intense story!

Dunphy fantastically uses his own knowledge to write this and his talent is amazing.

MelanieMacHugh narrates wonderfully.

In the book Little Witness, author S.A. Dunphy follows Detective Inspector Tessa Burns who starts a new task force within the department to investigate crimes against children. I felt connected with DI Tessa and her past but the rest of the team seemed like a misfit mess. The team helps a little girl – Aisling Connolly – whose parents have been taken. The faceless men who came in the dark to take them were looking for a list. This was a good story and idea, but some of the characters seemed a stretch. I would recommend this book. The audio-book narration was very good and loved the Irish accent. I received a copy of this audio-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Little Witness by SA Dunphy is the first in a new series featuring Garda Detective Tessa Burns who has been tasked with starting a new unit, exclusively to investigate crimes involving children. Joining her team are Detective Danny Murphy, a giant of a man (at 6’4”) with a bad temper; and Maggie, a wheel-chair bound woman with cerebral palsy who was also a psychologist with a dog named Pav, both of whom were able to get through to almost anyone. This would be their first case and a test for the program. Aisling Connelly was seven years old and was found hiding in a shed, where her mother had sent her when the men with no faces came to the farm. At first she was hesitant to speak but Pav loosened her up and sent the trio on an odd chase that centered mostly on moonshine, illegal alcohol. They were good people, her parents, everyone said so. It was the neighbor who called to say there had been no activity recently and might they check?

This was a wonderful novel from an experienced writer. Dunphy has created three deeply flawed human beings who are good at their jobs and come together to form an amazing team that is able to work together specifically because of their differences. Maggie is in a chair and looks like a push-over, but make no mistake, she can take care of her self and those around her. Pave never hesitates to make his presence known, as well. She is an interesting character, having grown up in care with Tessa and might be described as her best friend. Danny was behind bars when Tessa approached him, his temper having gotten the better of him once again. He was a good cop, though, and they agreed to some rules. This was an interesting case, which is not to say an easy one to solve. The story introduced the men with no faces, which is a story of its own, a fascinating one. People died. That tends to happen where there are homicide detectives, but Aisling was reunited with her parents after a desperate search. There is so much more to this book.

Melanie McHugh is the narrator and she nails it. From the first moment she was Tessa and in the middle of it all. I could not have chosen a better narrator; her accent was perfect.

I was invited to listen to Little Witness by Bookoutre. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Bookoutre #SADunphy #MelanieMcHugh #LittleWitness

This audiobook has me hooked from the start and it was a wonderful start to a new series!! I absolutely can't wait to listen to the next one. The narrator was also very good! I'm very happy I decided to pick this up!

This is a decent foundational adventure for a mystery series. The characters that make up Tessa's team are relateable and likeable. The setting is interesting. The prose is paced well. The mystery isn't too easy to solve, yet, within grasp. Sometimes the backstory, character, and setting descriptions are a little too expositional for my taste. Some of the dialogue feels inorganic, but since this is the first book in the series, I can only expect the prose to improve. I am glad NetGalley and Bookouture Audio allowed me to listen to the audiobook. I hope this series gains ground.

Detective Tessa Burns finds a seven-year-old Aisling Connolly all alone, and her parents are missing - who took them and why!
Tessa being a child witness puts a team together who can help Aisling in figuring out what happened and when Aisling starts to talk and share more details a lot of secrets comes pouring out.
Aisling parents were involved in some business they could never stop and now their enemies are doing everything within their power to get the secrets!

Good gripping book keeps the reader hooked!

Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture Audio and the author for approving the audio ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Little Witness by S.A. Dunphy and narrated by Melanie MacHugh is the first book in the new DI Tessa Burns series and what a brilliant first book this was. Once I started to listen to this audiobook I was hooked and found it hard to put it down.
Tessa Burns is a Detective Inspector in Ireland, and she received a great promotion for rescuing a kidnapped child. She was also given a great opportunity of recruiting her own special team that will devote their time working on crimes which involves children......
DI Tessa Burns recruits a great team Danny who is a Police Officer, who has a short temper and Maggie who has cerebral palsy and is mostly confined to a wheelchair, They all have something in common; when they were younger they were all in foster care and “care homes”, Sadly this left them all with psychological issues. But DI Tessa Burns knows they will all work great together on new and old cases.

Hidden away in an isolated cabin on the edge of her farm, seven-year-old Aisling Connolly shivers as the cold night air whistles through her thin jacket. It’s been two days since the men came, since her mammy told her to run like she’d never run before, to not look back. She hasn’t seen her parents since. And she’s terrified.

Aisling is finally found by the police, she knows instinctively she can trust DI Tessa Burns. Who is a former child-witness herself, Tessa understands what Aisling has been through, and that Aisling must remember everything she can about that terrible, dark night if she’s to save her parents......Slowly Aisling starts to open up and trusts her.

The clock is ticking............. and they need to find Aisling’s parents alive but, it is rapidly fading, with every minute!. DI Burns and her team must do everything in her power to ensure the little girl isn’t next....

WoW!!!! This book is so good and the narrator Melanie MacHugh is excellent. I highly recommend this book/audiobook. I loved it and it kept me on my toes!

Big Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook.
Plus, especially lucky to get the next instalment which was brilliant as well.