Vera Kelly Lost and Found

Spring 1971. Vera Kelly and her girlfriend, Max, leave their cosy Brooklyn apartment for an emergency visit to Max's estranged family in Los Angeles. Max's parents are divorcing – her father is already engaged to a much younger woman and under the sway of an occultist charlatan; her mother has left their estate in a hurry with no indication of return. Max, who hasn't seen her family since they threw her out at twenty-one, prepares for the trip with equal parts dread and anger.

Upon arriving, Vera is shocked by the size and extravagance of the family estate which reveals a privileged upbringing that, up until this point, Max had only hinted at. Tensions boil over at dinner as Max attempts to navigate her father, who is hostile and controlling, and the occultist, St James, who is charming but appears to be siphoning family money. The next morning, when Vera wakes up, Max is gone...

In Vera Kelly Lost and Found, Rosalie Knecht gives Vera her highest-stakes case yet, as Vera quickly puts her private detective skills to good use and tracks a trail of breadcrumbs across southern California to find her missing girlfriend. She travels first to a film set in Santa Ynez and, ultimately, to a most unlikely destination where Vera has to decide how much she is willing to commit to save the woman she loves.

Praise for the Vera Kelly series:

'Once more Rosalie Knecht proves herself one of the finest writers in the genre: brisk, witty, and emotionally intelligent. The much-anticipated return of Vera Kelly turns a tight plot around the failures of family and high stakes love, betrayal and the unlikely adventure toward self acceptance. This novel is a pleasure, as wise as it is thrilling' – Tracy O'Neill, author of Quotients, on Vera Kelly Lost and Found

'A good old fashioned spy thriller but with a brilliant kick-ass female protagonist' – Nicola Sturgeon

'Wonderfully sardonic yet compassionate heroine. Definitely a series to watch' – Mail on Sunday

'Unfolding in a persuasively evoked 1967, this smart, stylish mystery fizzes with wit and intrigue' – Irish Times (Crime Book of the Year)

'Forget about 007. This heroine has her own brand of spycraft' – Washington Post

'Gripping, magnificently written' – New York Times