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…
“All she’s missing is the space suit. That Seattle rain washed away what sense she had left.” Annalisse laughed.
Marlene M. Bell wove a fast-paced mystery story in the second Annalisse Series book. In Spent Identity the story begins with a dead man and then escalates to a missing person. It is a fast nonstop, a who-done-it thrill-ride story that has some romance, lots of family problems, and evils that I never saw coming.
Is the story far-fetched in an Alice in Wonderland kinda way? Definitely but that was the charismatic delight of Spent Identity. Bell crafted a story that literally took me away from my present situation of waiting on my adoptive mom to have surgery. Annalisse’s story is one that makes you so immersed in the story that you’ll forget about all your own troubles and woes. Trust me Annalisse has ample troubles that you’ll forget your own.
The author’s writing is very conversational that allowed me to immerse myself in the story completely. From there I was taken on a twisted, winding mystery story that I could never guess what was coming next. I had my own gut feelings about where the story was leading but where it landed was a complete shocker.
If you love swift books that can take you away from your own world for a weekend then check out Spent Identity. Maybe your problems will seem less than Annalisse’s.
By the way – I love authors who introduce me to new plants. I really thought candytuft was a made-up plant by the author. It is, in fact, real with the flowerheads looking very similar to Texas native frogfruit.
As a side note, I did not read the first book in the series. The second book in this series can stand alone on itself if it needed. There were enough snippets woven into this story that I was not lost.
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.$350 PRIZE PACK / ONE WINNER
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Forgotten Winds 
Ah, (she rubs her hands together,) there’s more reality to this story than one might think! Thank you, Christena for reading and reviewing Spent Identity. As a side note, the premise for one of the big reveals doesn’t live in fairy tale land. My husband’s first wife lost her dad from a suicide jump off the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. 10 years later, he shows up very much alive. Weird things happen to people all the time, and Annalisse is no stranger to those odd, sometimes eerie circumstances! Thanks again for joining the tour.
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Ah, (she rubs her hands together,) there’s more reality to this story than one might think! Thank you, Christena for reading and reviewing Spent Identity. As a side note, the premise for one of the big reveals doesn’t live in fairy tale land. My husband’s first wife lost her dad from a suicide jump off the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. 10 years later, he shows up very much alive. Weird things happen to people all the time, and Annalisse is no stranger to those odd, sometimes eerie circumstances! Thanks again for joining the tour.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Life is often stranger than any fiction we can make up. It is rare for anyone to survive a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. Thank you for sharing this. You’re welcome. I truly enjoyed the story.
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Thank you and you’re welcome!
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You nailed it on this book being an escape from reality. TOTALLY immersed in the story once I dove in. Great review!
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