The Plain-Spoken Pen

A rural New Zealand vacation turns poisonous.

Antiquities expert Annalisse Drury and tycoon Alec Zavos are at an impasse in their relationship when Alec refuses to clear up a paternity issue with an ex-lover.

Frustrated with his avoidance when their future is at stake, Annalisse accepts an invitation from an acquaintance to fly to New Zealand—hoping to escape the recent turbulence in her life.

But even Annalisse’s cottage idyll on thefamily sheep farm isn’t immune to intrigue.

Alec sends a mutual friend and detective, Bill Drake, to follow her, and a local resident who accompanies them from the Christchurch airport dies mysteriously soon after. A second violent death finds Annalisse and Bill at odds with the official investigations.

The local police want to close both cases as quickly as possible—without unearthing the town’s dirty secrets.

As she and Bill pursue their own leads at serious cost, the dual mysteries force Annalisse to question everything she thought she knew about family ties, politics, and the art of small-town betrayal.

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Marlene Bell’s Annalisse series gets better with each book! Copper Waters gives us not only an intriguing mystery in an international setting, but also some insight into Annalisse’s past.

There’s a lot going on for Annalisse Drury. She has turned down a second marriage proposal from Alec Zavos, and she’s trying to figure out why she has such a hard time getting to “yes.” Complicating matters is the woman who’s shown up with a boy she claims is Alec’s son. Then someone from Annalisse’s past reaches out to her. Annalisse drops everything and leaves Alec behind to go halfway around the world, hoping to reconnect with an old friend and see her elusive mother as she puts some space between herself and Alec. Alec won’t let her go alone, though; he sends their mutual friend, Bill Drake, along. Annalisse has no idea how glad she’ll be of Bill’s presence before this jaunt comes to an end.

Once in Temuka, Annalisse is hoping to see a real working sheep station. Her friend Ethan is back at his family’s holding, and she’s expecting a tour and some time talking to him. Things get off on a strange foot, though, when an older man is run over and killed after driving Annalisse and Bill from the airport. The police don’t seem intent on digging too deep to find out what happened, and the atmosphere at Woolcombe Station is tense, to say the least. When the station manager also ends up dead, Annalisse and Bill start pushing for answers.

This book has it all. Strained family relationships. A politician on the take. Mysterious deaths and inadequate explanations. It was a compelling read, and more than once I was on the edge of my seat, hoping that Annalisse’s investigation wasn’t going to get her in over her head! Bell’s writing style is easy to read, and the pages kept turning well past my bedtime.

The mystery is engaging, too. There were several possibilities for who the killer could be. I didn’t land on the right person until the reveal slapped me in the face. I can see how this person could be overlooked as a murderer.

And Annalisse might not have gotten to see her biological mother face to face, but she does learn more about her family. I’m fascinated to see what more we learn about her roots in future books.

And maybe, just maybe, the next time Alec proposes, Annalisse will say yes. I think this story went a long way toward getting them to see how much they mean to each other and how they’re so much better together than apart. It was fun getting to know more of Bill’s backstory, too. He’s one of my favorite characters after reading this book.

Another international adventure, another mystery solved, and a little more of Annalisse’s family known to her. Copper Waters is a heck of a good read, and Marlene Bell makes this series better with each book in it. Five sheep from me.

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