Lost and Found

Jayne Ann Krentz

For the past few months Cady Briggs has been working for Mack Easton remotely. He needed an expert in the decorative art world to help locate some objects his company, Lost and Found, has been hired to find. She is a freelance consultant part time. She's also involved with the family business, Chatelaine's, an antique and precious arts business.He contacted her by email. Since then they have communicated through email or telephone. Cady has found his intelligent and interesting. She dubs him her Fantasy Man.

When Fantasy Man needs her to come to Las Vegas, she quickly accepts. Mack Easton wants her to see a couple men who own a side show call Military Arts, a "museum" of replica military artifacts from across the years. They have a picture of an armor helmet that was stolen from their show. It appears to have been the real thing. If they get it back, they can sell it and pay off their business and solve their money worries. Cady is dubious, but now that she's met Mack in person, she knows she'll take it on.

She locates a piece that might be the helmet. She went to see the owner in the middle of a burglary. Mack arrived in time to protect her and help stop the burglary. When she returns home, she discovers her aunt who ran Chatelaine's has unexpectedly died and left her the business. Something is wrong, Cady knows. She has this feeling that her aunt was killed even though everyone believes it was an accident. She hires Mack to play her "almost fiancee" to help her discover the truth about her aunt's death and the shady doings going on in the art world. She doesn't realize that she is putting their lives in danger.

She does realize she's putting her heart in danger. Mack had been happily married until his wife died in an accident. She knows that he now only has casual relationships, partly because of his daughter. She knows they don't have a future. Does Mack know that?

Lost and Found is well done. Mack Easton is an interesting hero. He is a bit older and had been happily married with a grown daughter. Jayne Ann Krentz takes on the mid-life man starting again realistically for this genre. He knows it's time to move on in his life. Cady is a strong woman in her personal and business life. She is prone to panic attacks but knows how to handle them. It's only when she's really in love that she gets a bit unsure - like all of us.

The mystery/suspense pulls the reader in. The family business issues and her aunt's death are somehow related, but Krentz carefully reveals the clues, letting the reader guess who the bad guy is. The reader is almost right. Admittedly, when he is out of the picture, there is really only one other character who could be behind the murders. But by then the book is almost done, and if the reader hasn't figured it out by that time, it won't take much longer.

While Lost and Found doesn't keep you at the edge of your seat in the suspense, it does keep you guessing. Cady and Mack's relationship fits the genre and the reader's love of romance. Enjoy!

Notice:  Non-graphic violence, Strong sexual content

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