The Finder

The Finder

Three young women have been murdered in a cult-style ritual. Or maybe they jumped off a beach cliff to their rocky deaths somehow to cleanse their sins. Each have small concentric circles tattooed on their breasts. It’s a variation of one used by local Indigenous groups.

What would you do if you learned of the malicious acts?

If you’re Beatrix Patterson, recently settling in Santa Barbara with her fiancé Dr. Thomas Ling, Chinese British scientist, you’d vow to uncover the truth. She refuses to allow these women be buried as Jane Does. First, in the sleepy beach town, she must dig out who would want them dead. That would be enough for most “finders” but then she’s begged to unearth the secret behind of the recent death of a New Orleans high-roller. Who to believe, the man’s over-the-top drag queen son or the cold evidence in the city’s morgue?

It’s 1946. There’s no Internet and no way to search social media for instant answers. Beatrix discovers that the brutal killings are merely one layer of the mystery before her and she must unravel the lies, some decades old, before she also ends up dead.

Book Discussion Questions

  1. Has a stranger ever asked you for help? Beatrix is cautious. How did you respond?
  2. Beatrix could live anywhere in the world. Why did she choose Santa Barbara? Do you have a place where you feel connected?
  3. Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease. Do you think Major Davies’ personality has been affected by it? In what ways?
  4. At one point in the book, Thomas pretends to be a police officer. Should he have corrected that misconception? What would you have done?
  5. Do you think Beatrix will be content as a wife and mother? Remember this is the late 1940s when women were expected to have that role.
  6. Have you ever had a neighbor like Bunny Turney? Or someone who peeked out of their curtains when you came home or went out? What would you do if that happened to you?
  7. Josephine’s mother is indignant against racial injustice. How would you have responded if you had been in church that day? Have you ever had to stand up against a bully whose weapon were damaging words?
  8. Have you ever had a prophetic dream, as Thomas thought he did? Did you act on it?
  9. You read about Thomas’s dream. If you were Beatrix, how would you have responded?
  10. Morty and Darla seem to have accepted Frankie, even after everything. What would have been your reaction if you were that couple?