Book Review: Scattered Legacy

 

SCATTERED LEGACY: MURDER IN

SOUTHERN ITALY

Annalisse Series, #3

by

MARLENE M. BELL

Genre: Mystery / Romance

Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing

Date of Publication: November 4, 2021

Number of Pages: 352 pages 

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To outsiders, the relationship between Manhattan antiquities assessor Annalisse Drury and sports car magnate Alec Zavos must look carefree and glamorous. In reality, it’s a love affair regularly punctuated by treasure hunting, high adventure, and the occasional dead body.

When Alec schedules a getaway trip to show Annalisse his mother's Italian birthplace, he squeezes in the high-stakes business of divesting his family’s corporation. But things go terribly wrong as murder makes its familiar reappearance in their lives – and this time it’s Alec’s disgraced former CFO who’s the main suspect.

Accompanied by friend and detective Bill Drake, Annalisse and Alec find themselves embroiled in a behind-closed-doors conspiracy that threatens the reputation and legacy of Alec’s late father – linking him to embezzlement, extortion, and the dirty business of the Sicilian Mafia. The key to it all might be a gifted set of rosary beads where Annalisse can use her skills for appraising artifacts to uncover the truth. She leads Alec toward answers that are unthinkable—and events that will change their futures forever.

Scattered Legacy is the third in Marlene M. Bell’s thrilling Annalisse series, which weaves romance, crime, and historical mystery into addictive tales to instantly captivate fans of TV show Bones or Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. 

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This is actually my second Marlene M. Bell book that I've read. I have read the last Annalisse series book and I enjoyed it very much that I had to read her newest installment, Scattered Legacy. Now, you don't need to know everything from the two previous books, as the author does a great job of having our characters give you some insight. However, after reading this book, you may want to go back and read the last two.

 

The story starts off a little slow, but quickly starts to gain pace as our main characters, Annalisse and Alec, arrive in Italy. From there, our main story line is in full motion and our characters reel us into plenty of turn of events as they make dealings with the mafia and go on a surreal adventure with our main characters. Although, I felt as if Annalisse shined a bit more than Alec did than in the previous story, but that may just be the nature of series books as I've seen other authors do. That being said, even though Annalisse shined brighter, this book gives us more insight into Alec's family history, so it's balanced a bit in that way.

 

An element that also shined was the setting. I've gone to Italy before and our author does a fantastic job of placing us in Italy with our characters. The seafood, the pasta, the everything that makes Italy, is brought to life through our author's words. It was as if I could eat up the chapters myself! And mixing the setting with a murder mystery story just puts the cherry on top.

Overall, I was happy reading this newest installment. Though it started off slow, and some of our characters shine more than others, it was a nice read for a rainy day. I give this book a 4/5 stars and you should give it a try. That's it for today! Until next time, Happy Reading!

    

Link to the video trailer on YouTube

 

Marlene M. Bell is an award-winning writer and acclaimed artist as well as a photographer. Her sheep landscapes grace the covers of Sheep!, The Shepherd, Ranch & Rural Living and Sheep Industry News, to name a few.

Marlene and her husband, Gregg reside in beautiful East Texas on a wooded ranch with their dreadfully spoiled horned Dorset sheep, a large Maremma guard dog named, Tia, along with Hollywood, Leo, and Squeaks, the cats that believe they rule the household—and do.

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GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

 THREE WINNERS

1st SUPER GRAND PRIZE ($425 VALUE): Patricia Nash leather bag; Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the Puglia Region of Italy; Orecchiette Pasta from the Puglia Region; Weekly 2022 Engagement Spiral Calendar; Silver/Gold Italy Coin necklace on 18” silver chain; autographed copy of Scattered Legacy; $50 VISA gift card.

2ND PRIZE & 3rd PRIZE – Signed copies of Scattered Legacy.

(US only; ends midnight, CST, 12/10/21)

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