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.

About the Author
Rosalie Knecht is the author of Who Is Vera Kelly?, Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery and Relief Map. She is also the translator of Cesar Aira's The Seamstress and the Wind (New Directions). She lives in New Jersey.

Reviews
I've anticipated few novels this year with as much excitement as Vera Kelly Lost and Found, the final volume in Rosalie Knecht's nearly note-perfect 1960s-era private detective trilogy. . . . Knecht's writing, crisp and taut, cuts through the landscape with lacerating swiftness -- Sarah Weinman * The New York Times *
Engaging and often funny... The heart of the novel-Vera's introspections on disappointed family and society's reactions to a same-sex couple-will resonate with many readers -- G. J. Berger * Historical Novel Society *
Concludes the trilogy at the highest possible level * The New York Times *
I've anticipated few novels this year with as much excitement as Vera Kelly Lost and Found... Any trepidation I had about it not measuring up vanished with the opening sentences * New York Times *
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



Book Information
ISBN 9780857308283
Author Rosalie Knecht
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Verve Books
Publisher Oldcastle Books Ltd