Review by Frank Plowright

For all her natural aptitude for detective work, Amy Devlin is also a chancer, someone who masqueraded as a private investigator without having the licence necessary for operating in California. However, her overturning stones in Past Lies led to the solving of a 25 year-old crime. Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir cleverly pastiche the events in the opening pages via the version a movie producer intends to film. Amy earned the admiration of a detective operating the police’s cold case department, and is currently assistant to Detective Duggan serving out the three years experience she needs for an investigator’s licence.

Weir and DeFilippis retain Amy’s first person narrative from Past Lies, but this time have her partnered by deliberately annoying film producer Jordan Kale as she investigates the gruesome 1980 death of an actress. That, though, is just the start of something that builds into an altogether more sinister investigation. It’s more sensational than Past Lies, and another clever plot, but while still a very readable testimony to Amy’s persistence, for a long time it lacks the intimacy that made her first outing so engaging.

Contributing to that is the change of artist to Dove McHargue. He’s proficient, but his page layouts don’t vary the viewpoints or distance enough, his characters aren’t as easily distinguished, and on too many occasions it’s obvious some anatomy has been fudged in what’s intended as a realistic approach.

By halfway Amy’s put together a respectable case that Duggan just won’t invest in despite someone being in imminent danger just days away. As before, there’s a lot that’s clever, not least building on Amy’s previous admission she’s not good with alcohol, and how the events of Past Lies continue to have a resonance. However, look too closely into the plot and some motivations aren’t really credible, making this readable, but not compulsive. Lost and Found continues Amy’s story.