Missing Negatives, Missing Persons

A little over 20 years ago, I made a radical switch from research scientist to magazine publisher. That ridiculous move was crazy enough, but I never thought I’d go from magazine publisher to private detective, but that seems to be the arc my life is following. A little over 20 years ago, I made a radical switch from research scientist to magazine publisher. That ridiculous move was crazy enough, but I never thought I’d go from magazine publisher to private detective, but that seems to be the arc my life is following.

Recently, I received an email from a gentleman in France, who was trying to track down noted motorsport photographer Bob Tronolone and was hoping I could help him. He had found some old negatives of Bob’s, for sale on eBay, and he wanted to make sure that if he bought them, he’d have the rights to use them. This news alarmed me for two reasons: 1) In the 20 years that I’ve worked with Bob, I’ve never known him to release his negatives and; 2) We’ve not been able to get a hold of Bob for some time and considering his age, I was beginning to fear the worst. So, I told my newfound French friend, I’d do some digging.