Through online dating, Connie Kelly thinks has found her perfect man: M. Brooks Wells. He's older with silver hair and worked for the CIA. Connie feels things are finally looking up. When Brooks asks Connie to invest in one of his many projects, Connie has no problem giving him three hundred thousand dollars. But soon enough, Connie realizes he was just using her because Wells has disappeared with her money.
Connie decides she needs to hire a private investigator to find out who this man really is and try and get her money back. Connie hires PI Spenser after getting a recommendation from her therapist, Susan Silverman, who knows him well. Once he hears Connie's story, Spenser believes there is something off about this man, and he advises Connie to stay away from him.
The more that Spenser investigates, the more things come to light. Why is Brooks using this money to buy weapons? Spenser goes to where Brooks business is supposed to be, only to find an empty office. The landlord tells Spenser that Brooks owes her a lot of back rent and she can't get a hold of him. More and more, Spenser discovers a trail of owed money.
Spenser travels to Boston and Georgia to continue his investigation taking his close friend and right-hand man, Hawk. Between the two of them, they find out that Brooks is now with a church. What is the connection to Brooks, guns and the church?
Ace Atkins does a great job to continue this exciting mysteries series by the late Robert B. Parker with
Boston PI Spenser and right hand Hawk follow a con manβs
trail of smoke and mirrors in the latest entry of the iconic
crime series. After conning everyone from the cable news
shows to the local cops, it looks like the grifterβs latest
double cross may be his last.
Connie Kelly thought sheβd found her perfect man on an
online dating site. He was silver-haired and handsome, with
a mysterious background working for the C.I.A. She fell so
hard for M. Brooks Welles that she wrote him a check for
almost three hundred thousand dollars, hoping for a big
return on her investment.
But within weeks, both Welles and her money are gone. Her
therapist, Dr. Susan Silverman, hands her Spenserβs card.
A self-proclaimed military hotshot, Welles had been a
frequent guest on national news shows speaking with
authority about politics and world events. But when he
disappears, he leaves not only a jilted lover but a growing
list of angry investors, duped cops, and a team of
paramilitary contractors looking for revenge.
Enter Spenser, who quickly discovers that everything about
Welles is phony. His name, his rΓ©sumΓ©, and his client list
are nothing but an elaborate fraud. But uncovering the truth
wonβt be easy, as heβll have to keep the mystery man alive
long enough to get back his clientβs money. As the trail
winds from Boston to backroads Georgia, Spenser will need
help from trusted allies Hawk and Teddy Sapp to make sure
Wellesβs next con is his last.
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