Cleaning out her parents’ house near Lake Amelia in upstate New York, journalist Rose Webster is shocked to discover a secret compartment in her father’s office with a cryptic note—and ten thousand dollars in cash. Recently injured on the job, she’s got the investigative instincts and plentiful free time needed to uncover the story behind the note: a tale of abuse, intimidation, and murder amidst the charming lakeside resorts.

Jacqueline Boulden’s LIES LOST AND FOUND has many of the hallmarks of a good murder-mystery: a dogged protagonist (injured photojournalist Rose); a small-town setting (Lake Amelia); and a seedy capitalist willing to do anything for his bottom line (Leonard Browning, owner of several lakeside resorts). It also has a strong thematic core: indignance at the plight of the immigrant labor force (both documented and undocumented), which supports the economy even in small, wealthy towns in upstate New York. It augments those strengths with a brisk pace, especially in the opening chapters, where the text weaves together a paralegal’s initial investigations in 2010 with Rose’s discoveries in 2025. The prose moves quickly and clearly through the action, and although it’s there primarily to serve the plot, it does offer up a few moments of surprisingly thoughtful beauty. At one point, Rose fondly observes that “the flowers looked tired, like they’d had enough of summer.” Sometimes, the text does move a bit too briskly (the climax and resolution seem to go by in the blink of an eye). Overall, though, it means LIES LOST AND FOUND coheres well and keeps the reader’s attention—especially important considering the complex of narrative information spanning fifteen years and two linked investigations.

There are some unusual sticking points in the characterization. She is a journalist, so Rose likes poking her nose into other people’s business, but it doesn’t always come off well. Information about Rose’s sister’s sexuality comes out in an uncomfortable blurt that feels like either Rose is insensitive and prurient or the text hasn’t quite smoothed its exposition into the flow of the narrative. More to the point, the character’s sexuality has no bearing on the story, so it’s unclear why it’s brought up here. In a more frustrating vein, Rose and her compatriots are surprisingly blind to race—a real issue as they work with the predominantly-Latino community that staffs the resorts. Sometimes this is funny, as when various well-heeled white women show up in a Latino neighborhood and stick out like sore thumbs. Sometimes it’s not, as when Rose questions why a particular Latino man would commit crimes against other Latino workers—as though racial solidarity should override individual interest.

That said, there’s no question that the text’s sympathies lie with the marginalized workers—shining a light directly on the chronic labor abuses that buoy up industries across the country.

Jacqueline Boulden’s LIES LOST AND FOUND effectively straddles the space between charming, gripping, and impactful.

~Dan Accardi for IndieReader