Mommy's Little Girl: Casey Anthony and her Daughter Caylee's Tragic Fate

This is a really excellent book that really exceeded my expectations. Mommy's Little Girl is well-written, and although Ms. Fanning did not score interviews with the Casey or her parents, other close friends and relatives were interviewed and provided captivating insight into Casey Anthony, her mental state, and her family dynamics. I found myself wanting to shake (or slap) Cindy Anthony for her denial, enabling, and abject stupidity in her dealings with Casey. There was a lot of info about the family and case that I was unaware of (despite watching way too much Court Tv & Nancy Grace). I don't think true crime fans will be disappointed by this read.

I'm retired and have admittedly spent too much time keeping up with this case. There is so much raw data "out there" that it's been difficult to put all the pieces together. Periodically, due to Florida's Sunshine Laws, there are prolific amounts of documents released. Diane Fanning methodically went through every bit of it and wove it into a tightly-knit presentation. It helped me understand the backstory on Casey, her family dynamics and a potential scenario of the crime itself. (There has since been another "document dump" that puts a different light on how the crime might have been committed.) Still, I highly recommend this book for anyone who plans to be around watching at trial time.

Last summer, I was tired of hearing about the election for President on our news networks. So I turned on the Nancy Grace Show which was covering this story. Surprisingly, the author doesn't really write about Nancy Grace's impact on the show but I know most of the story because I have been following the case from last year. The story is based on the disappearance and murder of little Caylee Marie Anthony, a fatherless child, with a mother who refuses to identify her paternity unless it suits her. The author writes brilliantly with explanation and details about Casey Marie Anthony, Caylee's mother and prime suspect in her murder as well as the dynamic relationship that she had with her parents, George and Cindy Anthony. They refuse to believe their daughter is capable of such an act of murdering their beloved granddaughter. It's taken time in these circumstances when a family member is involved. The case has still not come to trial but Fanning has plenty of resources such as willing participants for her book and thousands and thousands of pages to sort through regarding this case in part to Florida's legal system. Even for those of us who watched the story unfold on Nancy Grace who covered this case intensively, I still found the book to be informative and useful in explaining the Anthony history background and the marriage between George and Cindy Anthony who cling to some hope by their own daughter in finding their beloved Caylee. I keep remembering the video of Caylee reading a book or sitting with her maternal great grand-father in a nursing home. Caylee was a beautiful child and now a beautiful angel in Heaven. Her tragic ending has captured our hearts even from those of us who never met her but how we forget her smile, her face, and her presence on television. The family had a compilation of Caylee's life in a video aired at the memorial to Michael Jackson's song, "Gone Too Soon." Then the story is about Casey, her young mother, whose bizarre behavior and actions during the time of her daughter's last day and when her mother Cindy finally confronted her is complicated and spun by a web of lies and deception. I feel sympathy to the Anthonys who had to deal with this double tragedy. It's horrible when a complete stranger abducts and murders a young child, but it's even worse when it's a family member. I feel sorry for George, Cindy, and Lee for their loss and it's not over until the trial which has not occurred. The book paints the harassment, confrontations on their front lawn, and other incidents where the Anthonys are met with angry protesters over defending Casey and believing in her innocence. I was surprised that Fanning didn't have much about the Nancy Grace show where I caught video visits of the Anthonys visiting their daughter in the county jail. She divides the book into three parts and the crime part is based on speculation and theory about what happened to Caylee Anthony. Fanning writes a disclosure on the first page of

I received my copy of this book in the mail yesterday afternoon, threw something at my husband for supper, and began reading. Wow, this book has it all. After all the documents that have been released, all the TV coverage and endless speculation about this case, this author manages to put all of that information into an understandable timeline. I was intrigued with the background history on George and Cindy...I also saw things in the book that lead me to believe their marriage will not survive this after the trial. Casey Anthony did so much damage to this family, and the damage continues to this day, and beyond. I think that Casey will be found guilty when the trial finally takes place....if for some crazy reason she is set free, I wonder what country she'll live in.

I was not able to put this book down. The author does an excellent job of putting everything on record into chronological order. Warning: Don't start this book unless you have nothing else of paramount importance to accomplish. Don't start reading it in the evening if you have to work the next day. You'll be up until 3:00 AM or however long it takes to finish it.