Customer Reviews

Little Girl Lost (True Crime)

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If you want to know how two young girls, ages 14 and 15, could ameteurishly slaughter an 85-year-old woman who had let them into her house to let them use the telephone, then read this book.

While giving due space to the horrific crime committed by Shirley Wolf and Cindy Collier, the book also recounts the abuse Shirley and Cindy suffered at the hands of their families. Shirley's experience is almost unimagineable. Her father began molesting her at age three, and began having intercourse with her at age nine. He took nude photos of her to share with other pedophiles.

But there's more. It seems that, in a twisted and perverse way, Shirley loved her father, and was her mother's rival for his affections. An unbelievable but true story, it will steamroll even the most ardent reader of true crime. Read it and be changed!

The author of this book is a superb writer. Having read hundreds of true crime books, non have impressed me like this one. This book is an outstanding portrayal of the ravages of childhood emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Shirley and Cindy never had a fair chance at life. The book is a fast and fascinating read. It will be hard to forget. I hope Shirley and Cindy have found some peace in their lives. I think you'll agree that the parents of these two girls played a role in the murder of Anna Brackett, especially Katherine and Louis Wolf! They are a disgrace and their treatment of Shirley is unforgivable. If you want to understand why children kill, read this book.

Joan Merriam's LITTLE GIRL LOST recounts the 1983 murder of 85 year old Anna Brackett by teenagers Cindy Collier, 15, and Shirley Wolfe, 14, for no other reason than that they wanted to kill someone. After a few unsuccessful attempts at finding a victim, they found and brutally killed Ms. Brackett.
This book has many positives. The research is outstanding with Merriam providing a continuing detailed account of the lives of the girls, both of whom were victims of mental and physical abuse and of incest, Cindy by her brother and Shirley, over a period of 10 or more years by her particularly sickening father. As a rare and totally interesting bonus which helps the reader to understand the degraded home lives led by the girls and ultimately the intense anger which led to the murder, Merriam even details in some depth the childhoods of the girls' parents, a wholly welcome and relatively rare occurence in the genre.

Merriam's writing is strange in that it improves markedly in part two which is titled "Pilgrimage to Hell" and which is the beginning of the aforementioned family histories. The writing in this section - and through the remainder of the book - is fast paced, literate, and intelligent, and from that point - page 77 to the end of this 370 page book - LITTLE GIRL LOST is hard to put down.
The writing in the first section is a different. In that section, Merriam seems to flounder about trying to "be a writer" rather than just writing straightforwardly as she does later on, and her attempts to re-create dialog are particularly weak. For example, when the EMTs respond to a 911 call reporting a dead or dying Ms. Brackett, Merriam has them knock on the door and say, "Open up please - it's the ambulance company." I can guarantee you that no EMTs arriving at an emergency call, ever said those words.
And she quotes a young girl, Donna, who witnessed the girls running from the scene as discussing "...those two girls we seen off the balcony..." though in the next paragraph she says "We saw them..." The witness is also quoted as reporting the girls as "bangin'" on doors, "hollerin'", and "runnin'" Merriam wasn't there and she has NO way of knowing how that girl talked. In that light her decision to have the witness talk as I have described is irritating and not believable. And does Donna say "saw" or "seen"? As a final bow to the nonsensical, Merriam quotes Donna as saying about Cindy and Shirley, "They looked real suspiciouslike." Yes. She really did. There is NO way a girl in California in the 1980s said this unless she was practicing for her audition in "The Stereotypical Hillbilly Follies".
I came close to quitting reading this book during this section, but I'm very glad I didn't, because the story is great and the writing - as noted - does a 180 degree turn.

The book continues with the arrest and trial of the girls. Merriam in an epilogue reports a jailhouse interview with Shirley. This is very welcome and quite good as far as it goes, but it reports almost exclusively how
she is dealing with her current situation and the changes she's gone through since her incarceration. I would have like to hear - in her own words - her thoughts on her upbringing, her horrible life as a child, and her incestuous love-hate relationship with her father. And there is no closing interview with Cindy at all. I feel that the expansion of the epilogue section would have helped create a considerably stronger book.

Taken as a whole, LITTLE GIRL LOST is a well done true crime effort. Merriam states in her introduction that she too was a victim of incest and a dysfunctional family; and that she is able to write in a "warm" and understanding style which she manages to prevent from becoming melodrama, is commendable. I strongly recommend this book to lovers of true crime, even if you have to fight through some of section one.

I am not yet done with this book, but it is a page turner and written very well. It's hard to believer that it is a true story and from right around here. One of the "killers" went to school with a friend. It's hard to believe the things that happened to these girls growing up. The author really knows how to paint a picture with words, it's like I am going through the same experiences of their home life. Well worth the money spent and the time waiting for it to be delivered!

I read this book a few years ago, and it was one of the best true crime novels ever written. It is very obviously written with much consideration and care, for both the perpetrators and the victim. Ever since reading this book, I've thought about those two girls, and how their lives were totally ruined by abuse and neglect, and wonder whatever happened to them. The author goes into much detail about the horror they suffered, which will leave you sleepless. Joan Merriam did a great job at showing the killers in a sympathetic light without taking the dignity away from the victim of this horrible crime. My heart aches still for Shirley, Cindy, and Anna Brackett. This book should not be out of print! It is an excellent example of what child abuse does to children, and the innocent victims who pay the price.

Hi, I am a senior in high school and I read this book years ago. I remember how well it was written and I know now that the girls have served their time and are out of prison. I was wondering if anyone could give me any info on where they are now and what they are up to or even a web site to go to. thanks so much. email me.

The author does an excellent job of explaining what brought two girls to a point where they could commit an act of unspeakable evil, without apologizing for their actions or portraying them as victims.

These were two little girls that had been abandoned by their mothers, physically and sexually abused by their fathers, stepfathers and other male caretakers. Sadly, when these two became old enough and strong enough to fight back, it was an innocent old woman they chose as their victim.

The laws in California have since been changed, but in 1983, the only option available to law enforcement was to charge Collier and Wolf as juveniles. Little Girl Lost is a most appropriate title for this true crime story. By the time Cindy Collier and Shirley Wolf crossed paths with their elderly victim, the system had already failed and abandoned them. In one instant, they were moved from the column marked victim to the one marked criminal defendant, and one has to marvel not at the brutality of these two girls, but at the fact that it doesn't happen more often.

Had one adult stepped forward in time, perhaps a tragedy could have been averted. The best true stories of personal redemption and juveniles involve some adult stepping forward and doing something, anything to reach out to save a lost child's life. By the time a juvenile who has been an abused child commits a crime of violence against someone else, it's too late. They are indeed little girls and little boys lost.

I read this book about 6 years ago, but I have never been able to forget the unbelievable stories of Cindy and Shirley. Two amateur killers whose life's stories will really touch you and tug at your heart.

This is the most haunting book I've ever read. The author did an excellent job of humanizing these cold blooded killers and making the reader sympathetic to their plights. The abuse these two kids endured is unimaginable. Reading of what they lived through, what they suffered at the hands of those who should have loved and protected them, breaks my heart.
Although my heart goes out the family of the murdered victim, I am not untouched by the girls who carried out this crime. They haunt my dreams and my waking thoughts. Their stories are so tragic, so sad.

Having been incarcerated in the same juvenile facility with both Shirley and Cindy, I found the book to be marvelously enlightening. It answered questions regarding the crime that neither of the girls would address in person. Last I heard, Cin paroled in '92 to Fresno and Shirley was transferred out into a women's prison in Fontana,CA. It was rumored that she injured a guard during an escape attempt. I really would like to see some sort of "whatever happened to?" to let us know how both ladies are doing, of course maintaining the anonymity of their new identities.