Are finders keepers for a treasure this mysterious?
Beau Fontenot discovers an ancient box at the bottom of Bayou Courtableau. Everyone wants a share, but none so much as the state of Louisiana. To protect the treasure, Beau hires recent arrival Ada Pierce, a young lawyer far from home.
Meanwhile, Victor Latombe, a professor in search of the story behind his family’s heirloom amulet, is wrongfully charged in the murder of a local pauper. Serving in her dual role as an assistant prosecutor, Ada discovers a historical connection between Beau’s treasure and Victor’s family—a connection that could save Victor but doom Ada’s budding relationship with Beau.
During her one-year commitment to the two cases, Ada must learn to interpret the deeply spiritual Cajun culture to prevail. Is her logic enough to uncover the real motive behind the state’s prosecution of Victor and its obsessive pursuit of Beau’s box? Or will a little lagniappe be needed to save Victor and protect Beau as the treasure’s finder? Dive into this haunting, yet convivial, Southern mystery and decide whether the outcome is dictated by coincidence, fate, or something else.
See what early reviewers are saying!
Pilcher’s twinned narrative, one tracing the story of a slave named Joaquin and the mysterious amulet he possesses, and the modern-day investigation into the contents of a bayou shipwreck, is compelling and memorable. This centuries-spanning novel follows the story of a mysterious possession that plagues different families across multiple generations. Pilcher’s tale of the South’s history of slavery and its reverberations into the modern era will strike a chord with readers. ~The BookLife Prize
THE FINDING is set in the bayou culture of Louisiana, where antiquities are found by treasure hunters, and the belief systems surrounding the discoveries are explored legally, ethically and spiritually.
Be prepared to challenge your memory as artifacts are traced from the hand of their creators through generations of motives, superstitions, murders and uncanny circumstances. THE FINDING is fast-paced; filled with shocks, belly laughs and exuberance as Ada, a new lawyer and new to the bayou, finds herself swamped in historical intrigue.
Elizabeth Pilcher writes lyrical, literary prose filled with humor, double entendre, and descriptive phrases that you will enjoy rereading just to savor the poetry of the expression. She tells a story that inspires the reader to see the historical significance of personal beliefs and is a master at misdirection, but never fails to delight the reader with an epiphany of discovery. ~Southern Fiction Fan