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.

Kellerman and Kellerman have done it again! This latest installment of the Clay Edison series is phenomenal. It is a slow, seductive old-fashioned, page-turning dime crime novel, written in the tradition of Hammett, Chandler, and MacDonald.

THE LOST COAST is the fifth installment in the series, but readers need not fear. They can pick up this book and easily follow the story without having read earlier books. Edison is no longer a Deputy Coroner; he has acquired his PI license and hung up his shingle. Breaking with tradition, this PI is married and is a family man. But this aspect of his character makes him that much more relatable to the reader. One day an old friend makes contact with Edison, informing Edison that he is going to be contacted by a young man who is managing his grandmother's estate and has uncovered some financial irregularities that he wants investigated. What should be a simple case turns into something much more complex - it leads to a real estate scam, a missing person's case, and even . . . murder? The climax of the story will have you reading faster and faster, desperate to find out how Edison is going to extricate himself from this mess.

Clean, crisp prose. A story that builds gradually over time to a powerful revelation. Relatable characters. A seemingly simple premise that could have been ripped from the headlines. This book has everything you want from a mystery procedural. And it reads like the start of a whole new direction for the series.

Fans of Robert Crais and Robert B. Parker are going to love THE LOST COAST.

I love this series and it continues to get better with every book. In this entry, protagonist Clay Edison, now a PI, starts working on what seems to be a simple case of fraud, but quickly turns into a much more intriguing case involving missing persons, a mysterious beachfront housing development, and an unfinished novel. The pacing is brisk, the cast of characters quirky, and the setting is creepy and dangerous.

What starts as an investigation into a property scam turns into so much more. Coroner turned private investigator Clay Edison dives into a search of a decades old scam targeting vulnerable individuals. He drives to Swann’s Flat to view the properties and learn more about the town, surprised of how remote it is and how difficult it is to drive on the road to Swann’s Flat. He is sidetracked when a posted flyer about a missing young man named Nick seems to tie into someone in Swann’s Flat.

I enjoyed Clay and his wife’s interactions, as he kept insisting he wouldn’t take chances, while his wife knew him better. When Regina, who had been investigating Nick’s disappearance, accuses Clay of trying to take over her totally different investigation, they instead join forces. I really hope Regina appears in the next book, she was totally unexpected and so much fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of The Lost Coast. This is my honest opinion.

I struggled to get through this one. It was a very descriptive plot (almost overly descriptive). There was so much happening and so much to remember that by the end of the book, I was trying to get my head on straight to figure out what was even happening.

This is one of Jonathan kellerman's spin off characters, Clay Edison, who has left his job at the coroner's office. He is now working as a private detective.

The trouble begins when a young man, who is managing his grandmother’s estate, hires Clay to examine some financial discrepancies. What starts off as a case of simple fraud rapidly expands into a web of deception, an elaborate con game stretching back decades and involving countless victims.

All the evidence points to a tiny town on California’s rugged, remote Lost Coast. It is almost impossible to get to and the people who do live there are not very friendly.

Being in Lost Coast brings Clay into collision with a host of other players: a grieving mother, an enigmatic teenager, a reclusive military veteran, a foul-mouthed PI pursuing her own agenda. It is Clay's job to determine what is happening in the Lost Coast. It was a great book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

I LOVE all the Kellermans!! I have read Jonathan and Faye for YEARS and now am happy to add Jesse to my "favorite authors" list.

No longer an associate coroner for Los Angeles county, Clay Edison now makes his living as a private eye. Not a GREAT living, but a decent one, and his wife makes more, so that helps. This particular case begins when Clay is contacted by a young man who is trying to straighten out his deceased grandmother's estate. The lady was not much on bookkeeping, and kept EVERYTHING, so there is a lot to go through. But a recurring monthly payment to a company identified only with initials, sets off alarm bells for both her grandson and Clay.

FINALLY getting some answers to what the payments are for leads Clay to take a roadtrip to far north California and the "lost coast" of the book's title. There, he thinks he may have found a connection to a young man missing for many months, who MAY have been in the area searching for another man, a writer, who has been missing for several years. When he contacts the young man's mother, she refuses his help, but does give him some information to go on. Another PI, Regina Klein, has worked for the mother and she and Clay eventually team up to find out what happened to this young man and what is going on in this desolate place.

They uncover a land scheme that has been going on for years, buying and selling basically worthless parcels to unsuspecting people sight unseen. Many/MOST of the buyers have never laid eyes on their property, but those who have were not happy, to say the least. Digging in to this mystery takes a while and involves a second visit, accompanied by Regina, and they FINALLY get to the bottom of what happened to both missing men.

WHEW!! A LOT going on, but it makes sense and once you get involved you will have trouble putting it down!

As always, Kellerman continues to keep me interested! The Lost Coast by Jonathan Kellerman; Jesse Kellerman
This one will have you sitting on the edge of your seat and wondering what will happen next. The characters are well developed and the story line will capture your attention from the very first page.
The plot was clever and the mystery kept me fully engaged.
Another fantastic story!

• This is the fifth book in the Clay Edison Series.
• Can be read as a standalone, but will contain spoilers for previous novels.
• Slow burn low key mystery with complex and secretive characters with some comic relief in a new second detective, Regina Klein, joining the ranks. She is great.
• This is a different type of book for this author with different type of plots and different characters.
• Not my favorite book by this author and found it a struggle to maintain interest until the end.
• Overall this was a quick read, although not as engaging as the first four in this series and it was way more predictable.

The Lost Coast by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman is a very highly recommended mystery/thriller and the fifth book in the series featuring private investigator Clay Edison written by the acclaimed father-son duo.

Clay Edison is now a licensed private investigator after leaving the position of coroner's investigator. Chris Villareal, who is referred to Clay by a former client, needs help investigating a monthly payment he noticed while managing his grandmother's estate. It seems to be a simple case of real estate fraud that leads Clay to look at a remote community called Swan's Flat on Northern California’s remote Lost Coast. After reassuring his wife Amy that he will keep in close contact with her and not do anything risky, Clay sets off to investigate the lot Villareal's grandmother purchased.

Once there the situation is odder and more secretive than Clay anticipated. The roads are nearly nonexistent, there is no cell service, and the locals are few, reticent, and duplicitous. He is shot at by one local and another is trying to con him into buying one of the lots. It seems the area has been running an elaborate real estate con for decades. There is another mystery in the area as a local bulletin board in the nearest town is full of posters for missing people and on it Clay recognizes something that makes him expand the case.

The Lost Coast is an extremely entertaining, well-written mystery that it full of intrigue, deception, secrets, and interesting characters. The complexity of the case increases with each new turn in the investigation, which keep interest high, the pace fast, and the plot compelling. It works well as a stand alone novel, although after reading it you will likely want to go back and read the previous novels in the series.

Clay is a charismatic character who will immediately garner your support and loyalty. He is trying to follow the advice of their couples therapist and keep Amy informed of his actions, situation, and safety level. All the characters are fully realized and interesting. Part way through the novel Clay teams up with Regina, another PI, and the scenes with the two working together are golden and sometimes hilarious. I hope to see her team up with Clay again in the future.

This really is a smart, interesting and un-put-downable investigative mystery. I'm looking forward to the next installment. Thanks to Random House/Ballantine for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

While this fifth in the series is going to really please fans, it will also make a terrific read as a standalone because it's not dependent on the previous installments. Clay was only meant to look into the shady real estate dealings at Swann's Flats but he finds himself on a quest to locate Nick, a young man who went missing. Something's really wrong in Swann's, a town more or less cut off from the rest of California thanks to the hostile landscape and horrible road (how did they get the materials to build the houses in?). And something was wrong with Nick as well. This will take Clay off on a side search for a manuscript for answers. And, it sees him team up with Regina, the PI who failed to find Nick the first time. The Kellerman's will make you wonder why Clay didn't just walk away when he finished the job he was hired (and paid) for given how complex and challenging the landscape, the people, and everything else is. Abandoning it, though, is not in his nature. He's a great character, as is Regina (hope we see her again). No spoilers from me! Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A page turner.

This book reads like it was written 30+ years ago. In fact in a couple of scenes I was wondering if the setting was in the 80s or 90s, but then I'd be brought back into the modern day a couple of sentences later. For example, all the phone usage was via land lines although the phones did have "answering machines". However, when our hero goes from talking on the land line to driving a car, he's driving a Tesla!! Somehow I think this book was first written by Jonathan 30 years ago and brought back out this year with some updates, but obviously not enough attention to detail.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an early reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. With proper editing and revision, this story should appeal to many.