LOST AND FOUND IN PARIS

A 31-year-old Los Angeles–area woman finds herself caught up in intrigue when the artworks she’s delivering to Paris are stolen.

Joan Blakely might be the daughter of an internationally famous artist tragically killed on 9/11 and a supermodel, but she's nothing like either of her parents, while being exactly like both. Hardworking, focused, beautiful, working at an art museum, and almost 10 years into what she thought was a happy marriage to a photographer, Joan is pretty OK with how her life has turned out. But then her husband drops a bombshell as he’s heading out of town: Not only did he have an affair, he has 5-year-old twin sons who are starting kindergarten and live not five miles away. Joan can either join the big blended family he envisions with his former assistant–cum–baby mama, children, and her, or the marriage is over. Joan doesn’t have to think twice, and the locks to their—really her and her mother’s—house are changed and divorce proceedings started while he’s out of town. The story follows Joan’s efforts to reclaim her life, trying to rediscover the self she lost 10 years previously when her father was killed aboard American Airlines Flight 11 when it hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. She agrees to personally courier a set of Joan of Arc–related sketches from the museum where she works to Paris so that an interested buyer can take a look at them. One thing leads to another, and the sketches are stolen. An inexplicably lighthearted lark of a treasure hunt develops as Joan follows clues that lead her to various locations of personal importance to her, her father, and her mother as she tries to find the sketches.

A quirky novel that deals with weighty topics and emotions without taking itself too seriously.