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At my first book club meeting, I had the surprise and pleasure of meeting a real life author (hi Lucy!) and she invited me to read her new book! I was a little nervous in case I had to be brutal but never fear, it was a fab read!

Alex is sent a mysterious machine which was created by her late father. She figures out that if she inserts a photograph the machine can locate the person. Her father created the machine to search for his little sister who went missing in the 1920s but he never managed to find her. Alex begins a mission to find a photo of Lillian to put in the machine…

The Finding Machine is a mystery novel with a really strong emotional thread running through it. The book is set just before the millennium and I felt that I was transported back in time!

Alex is bored with her dull admin work so is intrigued and inspired to break the monotony by using the machine. She has a wonderful flatmate and a terrible mother. I was almost pleading with Alex and Antony to get together as their affection and good natured banter makes their compatibility clear from the start.

Alex’s dad lost his sister when he was young and never gave up hope that she would be found. He invented the machine (there are some details about the construction but I didn’t really understand them) to locate his sister but he never had a photo of her. I have heard of the concept of a photo capturing a person’s soul so completely bought into the viability of the machine.

There are some dramatic moments as Alex tries out the machine to find missing pets before moving onto humans. The tension also grows as Alex gets closer to using the machine for its real purpose and finding her vanished aunt. The pace of the writing is pretty good and I was eager to keep reading to find out what would happen next to Alex, keeping my fingers crossed that she would succeed and resolve the family mystery.

The Finding Machine is a wonderful book: full of mystery, emotion and drama.

Book blurb

HER FATHER’S MYSTERIOUS INVENTION… A 1920s COLD CASE… CAN ALEX FOLLOW THE DOTS TO SOLVE IT?

It’s 1998, and Alex Martin’s life is falling apart. She’s fast approaching the big 3-0, with her dreams of making it as an artist in shreds. Her handsome housemate Antony’s moving on to better things while she’s stuck in a dead-end job, touch-typing for a living like a 1950s pool secretary.

Then, one grey winter morning, Alex inherits a mysterious invention from her late father that changes everything. The Finding Machine solves mysteries. But the biggest mystery of all lies deep within its wiring — the unsolved disappearance of a little girl, dating back seventy years.

What happened to the girl, all those years ago? Who was she?

Alex is going to need Antony’s help if she’s to join the dots and solve the case. But as dark family secrets are revealed, will the Finding Machine bring them together…or push them further apart?

Full of twists and turns, the Finding Machine is an unputdownable mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Buy now, and join Alex on the adventure of a lifetime!

Lost your loved one? Lost all hope? You need… THE FINDING MACHINE!

About the author

Lucy Lyons worked in London as an editorial illustrator before realising she loved writing novels so much, she wanted to do that full-time.

She now lives in leafy Surrey with her illustrator husband, two grown-up boys and a bearded dragon called Pancake. When she’s not at her desk writing, she loves to escape into the garden and other worlds.

Lucy writes page-turning mystery novels with a sprinkling of magic.