The big question is who is the real Christa Jody McKinley AKA Jo the high priced model AKA Jo-Jo the sister of Christy McKenna guru of taste and style as the editor of Horizon fashion magazine. No one seems to know and seemingly no one really cares. Well no one but Christy. But after years of caring which was unreciprocated even Christy is running out of patience and sadly, feelings for her younger sister. When asked "Did you know her well?" Christy's answer was "I thought I did -- but I didn't. She was a mystery to me," the secret sister. There are so many secrets surrounding Christy's current assignment you need a road map to keep them straight. On the surface it would appear that she is to cover Peter Hutton's new line of clothes inspired by his archeological find on his ranch in southwest Colorado. Hutton's new line is called The Sisters Collection after his discovery of the burial ground of princess sisters, the Kokopelli sisters, who were buried with amazingly beautiful, ornate pieces of art and jewelry. The designs on these pieces became the foundation of the new line. But nothing and no one is as they first appear.

One of the first townspeople that Christy meets is Aaron Cain an ex-con who earns his keep by supposedly stealing artifacts from various sites in the desert. Cain is a man with a past whom Jo described as dangerous. However he comes to Christy's aid on more then one occasion making her question her initial appraisal of him. Christy's insecurities about her appearance has her feeling ugly in comparison to her gorgeous and glamorous younger sister and yet Cain seems to be very attracted to her evidenced by his often seemingly careless caresses. The attraction between the two is palatable, exciting and yet apparently doomed. Cain doesn't know that the green-eyed, redhead he is assisting is the older sister of blonde bombshell Jo. This is another secret of this story that is filled with discoveries.

This book originally published with Lowell writing as Ann Maxwell carries her trademark style of sharing details throughout the book and then using these in the search for closure. Nothing is ever wasted in a Lowell book and you will find yourself going back searching out well hidden clues that were there from the very beginning. Any fan of hers will undoubtedly want to add THE SECRET SISTER to their Elizabeth Lowell library. The background theme of this story/book is that the desert holds many mysteries, many of which are best left alone. If one is to believe in the mystical world of civilizations that preceded ours then there are sacred articles that should be handled with extreme care if handled at all. There are too many elements of interest in this book to possibly list them -- you will have to find out yourself.