Murder Makes Scents

A visit to Paris with her mother ends in tragedy when Stella sees a man stabbed to death at the airport. In Murder Makes Scents by Christin Brecher, Stella feels once she is back safely on her island of Nantucket, the event will fade from her memory. (Murder Makes Scents will be published by Kensington Publishing Corp. on February 25.)

Not so fast though. She soon learns there might be a connection between the death and the perfume industry conference her mother attended. Stella discovers the person killed in Paris was a U.S. government official and sources believe the killer is well known anarchist Rex Laruam. This chills Stella and she is more worried about her globe-trotting, free-spirited mother.

When her shop is broken into and her mother Millie is attacked, Stella can't resist investigating. When she receives a note implying her mother smuggled a secret formula out of France, her anxiety rises. 

Because her mother has a severe concussion, she is unable to remember recent events, including who attacked her, nor can she explain what scents she had been carrying in her special case. Stella is sure there is something in the case that the attacker wants, but she struggles to learn what it might be.

When she meets someone purporting to be an agent from one of the alphabet spy agencies in the U.S.,  she feels she needs to trust someone to keep her mother safe. 

A tangled web of lies, misdirection and duplicitous identities makes Murder Makes Scents an intriguing puzzle.