Lies Lost and Found (A Lake Amelia Mystery series Book # 2) by Jacqueline Boulden

Someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.

When Rose Webster discovers a hidden stash of money and a desperate note in her late father’s den, she’s pulled into a dangerous investigation that escalates the closer she gets to the truth. A photojournalist who’s sidelined by injury, Rose follows the trail of the whistleblower and uncovers the abuse of immigrant workers at a lakeside inn in the Adirondack Mountains. Rose is driven by a sense of justice and moral duty to stop the exploitation of the workers, but she can’t do it alone.

Kelsey Jacobs moved to upstate New York to flee her ex-boyfriend and get a fresh start. She first learned of the abuse of immigrants fifteen years earlier, but when Kelsey’s investigation led to threats against her life, she panicked and disappeared. Is Kelsey still alive? Can Rose track her down and enlist her help to expose a powerful business owner’s darkest crimes?

The deeper Rose digs, the clearer it becomes that her father’s sudden death may not have been natural. Now her determination to bring down the unscrupulous businessman is deeply personal as she tries to find out if he killed her father.

A gripping blend of mystery, sisterhood, and social justice, Lies Lost and Found is a compelling investigative howdunit set in the quiet but dangerous shadows of a small town.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Reading books should make the reader feel some kind of emotion, at least a good book should.  And boy does Lies Lost and Found by Jacqueline Boulden do exactly that !!  I had book anxiety reading it ... in a good way !!

Lies Lost and Found is the second book in Boulden's Lake Amelia Mystery series but you do not have to have read Family Ties Family Lies, the first book.  I would recommend reading it, only because it is a great read but it's not necessary if you don't, you will still know what is going on.  So, let's talk about the book ..... 

In Lies Lost and Found Rose has been staying in her parents' house due to her mom passing away recently and she is still recovering from an accident that resulted in surgery, so she is not able to work.  She has been slowly going through things and decides to clean her father's den (he passed years ago) when she finds a secret compartment in the bookcase with a note and ten thousand dollars.  The note is not signed and is not completely clear as to why the money other than to hope her father will continue the investigation.

Rose's dad had been an attorney helping working class and immigrant people so she wasn't sure why the person who wrote the note would have been in the danger they were in.

Kelsey, who wrote the note some fifteen years earlier, right before Rose's dad, her boss, died had been looking into some immigrant women who looked to be being mistreated by their bosses.  Unfortunately, she gets spooked and moves away hoping Randall, Rose's dad, will look into the case further.

Rose eventually locates Kelsey and Kelsey reluctantly ends up returning to Lake Amelia and the two end up uncovering more than they bargained for.  Luckily, they have Maxi, Rose's half-sister who is also a deputy sheriff, Mary who worked at the lawn firm plus Mary's husband Sam who is a private investigator to help with things because they ate going to need all the help they can get.

One thing I loved while reading Lies Lost and Found is that Boulden designates a chapter to Rose in the present time, then switches to Kelsey back in 2010 when things started.  It allows readers to really see the whole picture.  And the story is so intense that you will so engrossed in it that everything else around you will fade away.