Book 2
Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing
Date of Publication: December 11, 2019
A body, a disappearance, just another hot summer in upstate New York.
It’s July when antiquities appraiser Annalisse Drury reaches her family’s small-town farm to consult with the trusted aunt who raised her. She learns that her beloved homestead—the one she expects to inherit—is for sale. While Annalisse reels at the betrayal and her shattered dreams, the Walker Farm ranch manager discovers a corpse in the barn. Officials close the suspected murder scene, and Annalisse seeks refuge with her aunt at Alec Zavos’s rural estate in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Then Aunt Kate vanishes.
Annalisse solicits the help of Greek tycoon, Alec Zavos, even though their rocky romance has dissolved into routine separation. What began as hope on Crete nine months ago has eaten away at Annalisse’s hope for a future with him.
In Spent Identity, Annalisse and Alec come together for the second time and find themselves in the center of not one mystery, but several. Where is Kate, and why sell her farm now? Is the dead man a coincidence or a clue to the aunt’s disappearance? John Doe’s identity may hold needed answers to solve the puzzle before Kate’s unstable health issues make her rescue impossible. The clock ticks, and a vengeful murderer is in charge…
Spent Identity by Marlene M. Bell is quite the mystery, filled with an abundance of clues but few answers and even fewer leads as to who did what to whom. The reveal is slow and steady in this one but well worth the wait. Marlene knows how to keep the reader intrigued and turning the pages. If you think you are good at puzzling out mysteries early on, brace yourself because with Spent Identity, you have met your match.
When Annalisse Drury heads to the Walker Ranch to see her Aunt Kate, she has no idea her world is about to be upended…again. Spent Identity follows Stolen Obsession (2018), but it can still be enjoyed as a standalone, even with the many references to events in book one. Both are thrilling adventures, so you will certainly want to read them both.
Annalisse’s relationship with the handsome, wealthy Alec Zavos appears to be all but over, and she needs her Aunt Kate’s pragmatism and sage advice. When Annalisse arrives at Walker Farm, she falls headlong into a murder mystery, followed almost immediately by Kate’s disappearance. Foul play is definitely afoot. This mystery has so many twists, turns, and surprises that determining the identity of the culprit (or culprits) early on is virtually impossible. Suspects are coming out of the woodwork in droves. Who killed the mysterious dead guy in Aunt Kate’s barn? Is the ranch hand and amateur sleuth, Ethan, a good guy or a bad guy? Why aren’t Kate’s adult children concerned about her disappearance? Can Annalisse and Alec salvage their relationship amidst yet another dangerous adventure?
But the big question on everyone’s mind is where is Aunt Kate?
Marlene M. Bell spins quite the web of misadventures, strange phone calls, suspicious packages, compromised crime scenes, and more than one kidnapping. What makes this mystery so entertaining is the light dusting of romance between Alec and Annalisse and the comedic undertones that expand as the story progresses. Mix in several interesting characters (and I really do mean interesting) and a baffling mystery that will keep you guessing, and you’re good to go. Spent Identity has all the necessary elements for an engaging afternoon (or evening) of unraveling a perplexing mystery and finding out just what happened to Aunt Kate.
Enter the giveaway below on or before January 17, 2020, for a chance to win the mother lode of all prize giveaways. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this one!
I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.
Marlene M. Bell is an acclaimed artist and photographer as well as a writer. Her sheep landscapes grace the covers of publications such as, Sheep!, The Shepherd, Ranch & Rural Living, and Sheep Industry News. Ewephoric, her mail order venture, began in 1985 out of a desire for realistic sheep stationery. A color catalog of non-fiction books and sheep-related gifts may be requested on her website or www.texassheep.com.
Marlene and her husband, Gregg reside on a wooded ranch in beautiful East Texas with their dreadfully spoiled horned Dorset sheep, a large and lovable Maremma guard dog named Tia, and Hollywood, Leo, and Squeaks, the cats who believe they rule the household — and do.
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Thanks so much for reading and reviewing Spent Identity! Stay tuned for another thrilling ride with Annalisse and Alec in book three, where they travel to the Cayman Islands and Italy.
You’re welcome. I can’t wait to read more of their capers. What a pair!
FABULOUS review! I didn’t see the ending coming, that’s for sure.
Thanks! Yes, that ending was definitely a surprise. Ready for book 3!