The Lost Coast is the 5th Clay Edison PI procedural by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman. Released 6th Aug 2024 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 384 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, paperback, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a well written PI investigation in a very well written series. A brazen real estate scam has lone wolf private investigator Clay digging into the background of a number of seriously shady characters who would strongly prefer to remain under the radar.

The plotting is (as always) very tight and action driven. It's eminently readable and exciting. The denouement and resolution are satisfying and self-contained in this volume. For readers unfamiliar with the characters, it works well as a standalone, with minor spoilers for earlier works. There is some rough language and a fair bit of violence.

Although it's not derivative at all, fans of Robert B. Parker, Stuart Woods, and Michael Connelly will likely enjoy this one. There are 5 books extant in the series; it would make a great binge/buddy read or choice for mystery bookclub study.

Four and a half stars. A solid mystery in a very solid, very long-running series.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This was my first Clay Edison book. I’ve read every Alex Delaware novel, and some of Jonathan Kellerman’s other books. I’m a definite fan.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book a lot, so much so that I intend to read the previous ones and catch up on the back story. This book was great as a standalone, though.

The tale built in starting in the first few chapters and turned into a full-blown mystery that was action-packed and kept me turning pages to try to figure it out. Clay began out with a client wondering about some discrepancies in his grandmother’s estate. When Clay connects the dots to a piece of property on California’s Lost Coast, the plan is for him to go up and look at it, take a few pictures, and work out what kind of crooked scene the guys there are trying (and succeeding) to pull off. He drives up, meets some of the people there, including the real-estate scoundrels, and goes back to report. It’s when he decides to take a return trip and he picks up a partner to go with him that it all becomes really interesting.

Loved it! Clay is one of the good guys. I hope Regina returns too.

This was my first Clay Edison book. I’ve read every Alex Delaware novel, and some of Jonathan Kellerman’s other books. I’m a definite fan.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book a lot, so much so that I intend to read the previous ones and catch up on the back story. This book was great as a standalone, though.

The tale built in starting in the first few chapters and turned into a full-blown mystery that was action-packed and kept me turning pages to try to figure it out. Clay began out with a client wondering about some discrepancies in his grandmother’s estate. When Clay connects the dots to a piece of property on California’s Lost Coast, the plan is for him to go up and look at it, take a few pictures, and work out what kind of crooked scene the guys there are trying (and succeeding) to pull off. He drives up, meets some of the people there, including the real-estate scoundrels, and goes back to report. It’s when he decides to take a return trip and he picks up a partner to go with him that it all becomes really interesting.

Loved it! Clay is one of the good guys. I hope Regina returns too.

The Lost Coast by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman is number five in a series about private investigator Clay Edison but I did not realize that when I started to read the book .This book was easy to read as a stand alone.Clay is investigating an estate of a person who had spent a lot of money to buy and take care of a property in Northern California.The property was called Swann*s Flat Resort and things are not as described! It is when Clay teams up with PI Regina Klein that things get really interesting!I enjoyed this action packed story and will go back and read more of the series! I look forward to more books with the team of Clay and Regina!Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me to read this ARC!i

Let me say right from the start that while The Lost Coast is the 5th book in the Clay Edison series, it happens to be my first time reading the series. For decades I’ve been a huge fan of the Alex Delaware novels so I have no idea how I managed to overlook this series. This is all my longwinded way of saying, I read this book without having any knowledge of the previous volumes in the series, and I’m more than happy to say I wasn’t really lost at all and this one can work as a stand alone. Yes, there are definitely references to stuff that occurred in the previous books, but I still had no real problem following this story. Am I curious to read about all that came before this one? Yes, yes I am, and as such will be picking the the first four books very soon.

Clay Edison used to be a coroner but now works as a PI. An old friend asks him to help out a guy he’s mentoring. He just lost his grandmother and has been made the executor of her will, only he’s found some odd recurring payments she’s been making for years and doesn’t know what they are about. This is the start of Clay heading down a twisting rabbit hole that will lead him to a curious town out in the California wilderness, and that’s when the mystery really kicks into gear. I really enjoyed this one. Great characters and an intriguing storyline really hooked me. As I said, I don’t know how I managed to overlook this series for so long, but now I’m not only am I looking forward the next book in the series, but I cab’t wait to jump into the previous volumes as well. I’d like to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of The Lost Coast.

https://www.amazon.com/review/ROKQGYHR3A58I/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

The Lost Coast by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman is a Clay Edison novel, book five. Clay is a private investigator retired from the police department as an officer-coroner. Under a cloud. He is married with two children and he has a penchant for putting himself in dangerous situations. This story is about one of those situations: a seemingly simple favor for the friend of a friend who is trying to settle his grandmother’s will. There’s not much there but Chris is thorough and he sees payments of $235 per month, going back years; the checks made out to SFRA. Not very enlightening. Clay looks further and discovers, what appears to be a real estate venture. Seems grandmother bought a seaside lot, sight unseen, on the recommendation of her lawyer. After some investigation, Clay decides to get a look for himself, because not only had she been paying for years, but there was a balance of $60,000 in the loan. What he found was beyond interesting, so interesting, in fact, that he located the P.I who had investigated for another owner and took her along for a second look.

Clay is a good guy and he has an excellent wife; a wife who worries, constantly, about him. He has a way of ferreting out good people and making them friends/allies. This was a complicated and dangerous scheme, one no one there wanted uncovered, some because they were involved, other because they were afraid. People died, some by accident, some not. It was a complex plot with lots of beautiful scenery and some that was not so beautiful. It was so far into the treacherous mountains that even the police would not come. It was beautifully written and supremely entertaining, for those that like this kind of novel. The characters were intriguing and the plot too likely. Excellent book. Thanks, Kellermans, for writing about Clay Edison!

I was invited to read The Lost Coast by Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #JonathanKellerman #JessseKellerman #TheLostCoast

There will be no disappointments with The Lost Coast by Jonathan Kellerman and Kesse Kellerman. This mystery takes readers into a little known, isolated area that harbors a variety of criminals.

This is a good PI story with lots of intrigue! Filled with many characters, I didn’t quite know which ones to believe! Enjoyed this and look forward to the next one!

The search for truth can lead down dangerous paths.

When former coroner turned PI Clay Edison is asked by a young man to look into some odd entries he discovered while settling his grandmother’s estate, Clay doesn’t think it will turn into much and tells his client to keep his expectations low. Those entries lead Clay to a piece of land the grandmother purchased on the advice of a trusted community member who was part of a large scale swindling operation. It would be nearly impossible to prove that fraud occurred, as others who were cheated by the same group have discovered, and would cost more than the client could ever recoup, but it bothers Clay (and the young man who initially hired him) that the shady entity behind the land scheme will continue to defraud others. While out surveying the land, reached by travelling over nearly impassable roads, Clay meets the small group of secretive people who actually live in the mostly undeveloped town of Swann’s Flat including Shasta, an intriguing teenaged girl wearing a distinctive necklace that Clay is sure he saw worn by a young man featured on a missing person flyer posted in a nearby town. Clay is no longer being paid to investigate the strange goings on in Swann’s Flat, but he feels compelled to keep following the threads he has uncovered. He joins forces with Regina Klein, a diminutive but foul mouthed PI who had worked for the mother of the missing young man until funds ran out but who is similarly reluctant to walk away. How do a coming-of-age novel written by an author who walked away after a promising debut, the missing young man who seemed obsessed by it, and the tiny community seemingly financed by the long term sketchy real estate schemes tie together? There are secrets that some would prefer stay buried….and they might be willing to kill to keep them that way.
Clay Edison is a man compelled to run towards danger when others would choose to turn towards safety, and that tendency has caused strain in his marriage. With two young children to think of as well, his wife insists that before he launches himself into unknown situations that he level with her about potential dangers and that he update her regularly as to his whereabouts and progress. That proves tricky to do as he is an area with no cell phone coverage and immersed in a situation that morphs from under control to life-threatening in a heartbeat. As Clay unravels the different puzzles which pop up as he looks into what at first seems to be a run-of-the-mill real estate scam, the reader is drawn into the intrigue and meets numerous quirky characters along the way. Plenty of possible villains and a remote, rugged locale add to the allure of this, the fifth installment in the series featuring Clay Edison. Fans of either of the authors’ other books as well as those who enjoy authors like Lee Child, Bruce Borgos and Michael Connelly should give this suspenseful thriller a try. Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me early access to The Lost Coast.

The Lost Coast is the best Clay Edison book yet!

Many things about Edison have changed while others have stayed the same. No longer a deputy coroner, but a private investigator, he looks into a case that has him entering a community with many questions after being asked to look into a questionable statement upon a death. Edison asks questions and investigates like always. However, in The Lost Coast, we see Edison even better at investigation and containing much more suspense, which personally, I loved

Like books from all the Kellermans, this book is one you cannot put down - I read it in one sitting! If you love investigations, mysteries, suspense, and of course, books by any of the Kellermans, this a must read!!

( Side note: there is no need to read other books in the series to enjoy this book!)

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was action-packed and fascinating. I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed this book and am eager to read more books in this series and others by these authors.

The Lost Coast by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman is a contemporary thriller! The main character is Clay Edison, a PI who used to work in the law. Clay’s strongest characteristics are his doggedness and persistence. Luckily he is also courageous and intelligent.

The novel focuses on Clay trying to figure out what happened to missing money from a client’s grandmother’s estate. As he continues to move forward other storylines add into the equation. Two more people seem to have some connection to the case. There seems to be a town in the midst of nowhere in California. People have been paying for the land, then the maintenance, and other “expenses” for years. Money being pretty much stolen from the elderly. Clay is determined to find the answers.

Jesse Kellerman is Jonathan’s son. When they write together, the main character is Clay. The books are well written. They build up the suspense until you realize there is no easy solution until that last twist or two.

The Lost Coast reminds me of the gist of city slickers being stuck in the backcountry, but the storyline is more sophisticated. The Lost Coast by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman is a good read!

This is the fifth book in the Clay Edison series. I am a longtime reader of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series and I've read a few of the prior books in this series that he writes with his son Jesse. I like the freedom that Clay has to investigate now that he is a PI. Clay is a good guy and wants to do the best for his wife and kids as well as his clients, even those who can’t afford to pay him.

I enjoyed the book, but the pacing has some ups and downs. Real estate fraud is the main focus of the first part of the book and some of that goes by a bit slowly for me. However, things pick up with the missing person case especially when clay teams up with another PI. Regina Klein is quite a character and she and Clay work well together in spite of their different styles. I was surprised by the way things are wrapped up and the ending is bittersweet. I like the way things ended for Clay and his wife, Amy, as well as between him and Regina. I would love to see more of all three of them in future books.

I received an advance copy of this ebook at no cost from NetGalley, Ballantine Books, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

"It eats at me. What else am I missing?"

A client has brought Clay a decades-old fraud case, where it seems that the vulnerable and the elderly have been targeted - and it may still be happening. Clay's investigation leads him to a strange town in the remote California wilderness, which you have to read about to believe it!

I'm impressed by the father-son writing team of Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman. The characters were wonderful in The Lost Coast! Clay, his wife, and his children brought so much heart and humor to the book. Elvira was a hoot. "I remember her teeth." (As a retired dental assistant I TOTALLY get that!!) I also loved the other PI, Regina, although she took some getting used to at first.

I found The Lost Coast to be an interesting, humorous (yet suspenseful) book that can be read as a standalone. I recommend it!

BIG thanks to both #BallantineBooks and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of The Lost Coast. This book is #5 in the Clay Edison series, and IS AVAILABLE NOW!!

I recommend reading THE LOST COAST, written by Jonathan Kellerman and his son, Jesse Kellerman. Clay Edison, a private investigator, helps Chris Villareal by investigating a real estate scam perpetrated against Chris’s deceased grandmother. Clay's investigation leads him to Swann’s Flat in the remote wilderness of Northern California where the real estate is said to exist. What results will Clay Edison’s investigation yield? I read on to find out.

Clay is a believable character. He has a good familial relationship with his wife and children. Much of the book seems to be a low-key mystery until the exciting resolution. I have enjoyed reading books in Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware series and feel glad I have expanded my reading to include a book written by the father/son Kellerman collaboration. Thank you, Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and NetGalley, for the chance to read and review an advance reader copy of THE LOST COAST.

One of the most common putdowns of a gullible person is to tell them: “If you believe that, I’ve got some swampland in Florida for sale.” Over the years, con artists have sold the Brooklyn Bridge and the Eiffel Tower to unsuspecting marks, not to mention lots of “prime” investment real estate that turns out to be not-so-prime. Although I’ve read both fiction and non-fiction books about the art of this type of con, I’ve never found a book that focused on what happens after the land is sold to the unsuspecting marks… until now. Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman look at a California land swindle in their recent novel, “The Lost Coast.” Although a PI’s investigation of this hustle could make a terrific novel by itself, the Kellermans have grander goals. The book soon becomes an even more fascinating investigation into some missing persons. Unfortunately, the ending is a slight letdown, but overall, this is a top-notch detective novel.

“The Lost Coast” is the latest in the series by the father-and-son team of Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman featuring Clay Edison. He’s a former county coroner turned private investigator who looks into the case of a recently deceased woman whose executor grandson is concerned about possible financial irregularities in her estate. The woman paid $135 a month for 20 years to a mysterious company with no apparent explanation. Clay discovers the money represented various fees and interest payments on a piece of property the woman bought years earlier based on lofty (and false) promises in brochures. He soon learns that dozens of others had been fleeced in this same bogus investment scheme, most losing their property when they couldn’t keep up the various payments. The different land parcels were located in Swann’s Flat, a town in the rugged mountainous California region north of San Francisco. Clay, posing as a potential investor under an assumed name, goes there to investigate.

He discovers that Swann’s Flat is the ultimate in tight-knit communities, a handful of residents living in luxurious estates among dozens of worthless parcels of land too rugged to develop. The town has no cell or internet service and is accessible only over a one-lane dirt road through treacherous mountains. (Those mountain passes afford many opportunities for unwary travelers to jump, fall, or get pushed over a steep cliff.) Clay gradually learns how the scam was created and operated over the years. Some people may find the description of financial skullduggery tedious, but I found the material fascinating. The people behind the scheme perfected a way to seemingly keep their operations legal while taking millions from unsuspecting purchasers.

At this point, about one-third of the way through “The Lost Coast,” I expected Clay to figure out some way to bring fraud charges or lawsuits against the bad guys. I was wrong. Instead, the story pivots to a search for a young man who disappeared in those same mountains a year earlier. Clay suspects the man had spent time in Swann’s Flat before he disappeared, so he also looks into that case. It wouldn’t be fair to readers to reveal much more of the story other than to say that the young man’s disappearance was linked to the suspicious death of a member of the town’s founding Swann family and another mysterious disappearance in the same area some 15 years earlier.

Clay Edison is an interesting main character, unlike traditional crime fiction PIs in many ways. He’s not a bachelor loner. Instead, Clay has a wife who constantly worries about him and insists that he give her hourly updates (something that proves difficult in the massive dead zone surrounding Swann’s Flat). Clay also has two very young children whose “exploits” at home are sources of pride for him. I’m sure his history as a coroner also gives him a unique skill set, although those skills aren’t used here. (Other than vague references to past cases, “The Lost Coast” reads well as a standalone introduction to this series.) He also gains a “partner” in the book’s second half, Regina Klein, a PI investigating the missing young man earlier. She poses as Edison’s wife when he returns to Swann’s Flat for the book’s concluding section. Regina is colorful enough to support a sequel or spinoff if the Kellermans take this series in another direction.

In some ways, “The Lost Coast” reminded me of Ross MacDonald’s Lew Archer novels. It has a distinctly California feel to it, although Swann’s Flat is far from the Los Angeles environs where most of Archer’s cases took place. Clay Edison is also a knight errant, pursuing the case even when there doesn’t seem to be any more money in it for him. (The authors explain he received some healthy off-the-books compensation from an earlier case.) “The Lost Coast” also has some crisp, apt phrasing, such as the authors’ description of the missing man’s former home: “In Berkeley, people called that living green. In Fresno, it was called being poor.” However, the primary similarity between “The Lost Coast” and MacDonald’s work is the rich cast of suspects, victims, and witnesses Edison discovers in his investigation. Some are long gone but still come to life through other characters’ recollections and Clay’s research (The internet is the 21st-century PI’s best friend, once he has service available.). The end result is something that, like the Archer novels, resembles classical Greek tragedy in some ways.

Unfortunately, the narrative in “The Lost Coast” falls apart somewhat toward the end. The authors rely on two lengthy information dumps from different characters to explain what happened in previous years. At one point, the authors switch from a first- to third-person point of view as they devote the book’s longest chapter to explaining in momentum-choking detail what one character knew and did. Ultimately, the book has some extensive gunplay to permanently resolve matters. I’m not opposed to action scenes in a mostly cerebral mystery before that, but the violence here seems a gratuitous hook for hardboiled crime fans.

Although I was disappointed in the way the authors wrapped up the case (and the book), I enjoyed “The Lost Coast” a great deal. I’ve read several of Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware books, and he brings the same attention to character and plotting here. I don’t know how the authors divided the writing process, but the book (except for the one chapter I mentioned before) reads like a seamless whole rather than a collection of disparate sections. The authors also take potentially dry financial criminality and make it as intriguing as a complex bank heist. I’m now interested in reading how Clay Edison solved his earlier mysteries. “The Lost Coast” is an excellent find for mystery fans.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

It took me a minute to get into this one but it was worth it. Clay is finally back and the case he's working is convoluted and hooks you. The cast of characters are interesting and I think I suspected each at one point or another. The big reveal surprised me. We meet new character Regina and I hope we see her again. Another hit by this duo!

What could be better than merging two excellent, talented writers, in this case, father and son, long-time veteran John Kellerman and his son Jesse? The answer is not much. The Lost Coast is another terrific entry in this outstanding series and a superb stand-alone.
Insurance investigator Clay Edison is hired to look into suspicious dealings in a town, Swann's Flats. The initial assignment leads to a missing persons investigation for a young man, Nick, who may or may not have problems. Clay faces multiple barriers, including impassable terrain and poorly built roads and trails within the isolation of Swann's Flats. Clay reunites with a past associate, and they hope to find Nick, even after he wraps up his initial assignment at Swann's Flatts. The Lost Coast is an exciting thriller written by two of the best in the business. Start and finish it within two days; that is how good it is.

This is the fifth book in this brilliant father-son collaboration. I make no secret of the fact that Jonathan Kellerman is one of my favourite, go to, authors and it is obviously through him that I discovered this series featuring ex-deputy coroner cum private eye Clay Edison. Now I loved him when he was in the coroner's department as I thought that was a neat quirk and something a little different, but now I am getting used to him transferring his pretty well stocked skill set into the private market and I'm liking what I see.
So... we start with Clay being asked to help with tracing a cheque. Charles Villareal is the executor for his grandmother's estate and he has spotted a recurring payment which he can not identify. Clay pokes around a bit and discovers that it appears to be payment for a plot of land in Swann's Flat and the more he looks into it, the more dodgy and fraudulent it becomes. Soon his leads dry up and the only thing left is to actually go to the place and do some digging on site.
En route though, he spots a "missing" board and hones in on one of the people displayed. But I'll park that here and let you discover quite how it all fits for yourself...
And so begins a rather interesting, and perilous, twisty turny story that has Clay pitching his brains against some rather nasty brawn in his endeavours to get to the bottom of the payment. But little did he know what kind of can of worms he was going to open up...
To be honest, I wasn't really that interesting in the real estate part of the book. That sort of mystery doesn't really do it for me, but the authors did a good job of keeping my attention and, intrigue, and I trusted that there would be something else to get my teeth into, and I was rewarded for that trust.
Another big plus point was the inclusion of a partner for Clay in the latter half of the book. She was brilliant! A bit of light and occasionally comic relief which was most welcome.
The other characters in this book are, well, you have to meet them, they are all a bit eclectic and well, weird. And occasionally misunderstood. I enjoyed getting to know them and then really getting to know them better!
All in all, a cracking addition to a now already well established series. Let's try not wait three years for the next one please... My thanks got to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Clay Edison is coroner now turned PI. He is approached by a young man who is trying to take care of his late grandmother's estate. She has been writing a check for $135 a month for years totaling close to $50,000. In the course of his investigation he stumbles on a missing person case.

I like Clay but the others in the book weren't developed including his wife, Amy. There were a bunch of characters that were involved but and I had to keep checking who they were. At times I felt that the dialogue didn't have a lot of depth even though the subject matter should have been filled with emotions. I was vague about the story of the two missing persons and how they were connected and the land scam. As seems typical of the author there is a lot of description of the terrain, the roads and the traffic that seemed more like filler than actually adding to the story.

I will continue to read them because they are somewhat enjoyable and a relatively quick read.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for providing me with a digital copy.

As always, a great read. A bit slower than some of the others, but with very intricate plot details that add to the mystery and suspense. There were two plots, it seemed, and the connection between them seemed pretty flimsy, but both plots were interesting and kept me guessing as to who was doing what and what they were actually doing.

I did feel that Clay's marriage was a little annoying this time around. I do understand the things that happened in previous books to put them where they are now and why they're doing what they're doing but it just felt a little tedious and overdone.

I also thought a lot of the characters could have been developed more. Particularly given the roles that they played, they felt a little thin and two dimensional.

Even with those mild complaints, it was still a great read that I thoroughly enjoyed and would read again. I'm already looking forward to the next book from these authors.