ABOUT THE BOOK
First in a new series from national bestselling author Kylie Logan, The Scent of Murder is a riveting mystery following Jazz Ramsey as she trains cadaver dogs.
The way Jazz Ramsey figures it, life is pretty good. She owns her own home in one of Cleveland’s most diverse, artsy, and interesting neighborhoods. She has a job she likes as an administrative assistant at an all-girls school, and a volunteer interest she’s passionate about—Jazz is a cadaver dog handler.
Jazz is working with Luther, a cadaver dog in training. Luther is still learning cadaver work, so Jazz is putting him through his paces at an abandoned building that will soon be turned into pricey condos. When Luther signals a find, Jazz is stunned to see the body of a young woman who is dressed in black and wearing the kind of make-up and jewelry Jazz used to see on the Goth kids back in high school.
She’s even more shocked when she realizes that beneath the tattoos and the piercings and all that pale makeup is a familiar face.
The lead detective on the case is an old lover, and the murdered woman is a former student. Jazz finds herself sucked into the case, obsessed with learning the truth.
REVIEW
Spending time with Jazz while solving the mystery of The Scent of Murder was pleasant. We see the pieces of her life from family, to friends, to an old romance she may renew, which helps create a full picture of who Jazz is as a person. By creating this background, it is clear The Scent of Murder will not be the only novel centered around Jazz. It serves to get the reader attached to her character and does a decent job of it.
Due to the attentive character building, the mystery does move along a bit slow for my tastes. Not that the pacing here is necessarily a bad thing, I simply prefer more of a thrilling approach in my murder mysteries.
I found it a bit odd that a book in which the main character trains cadaver dogs showed so very little of that. Hopefully, in future installments, there will be further insight into this part of Jazz's life.
Overall I enjoyed the early copy I received of The Scent of Murder by Kylie Logan. The main test for me in any mystery is whether or not I could figure out the who done it beforehand, and here I could not. I appreciate an author who gives the audience clues/ red herrings in a way that doesn't point the arrow too quickly at the culprit. It is a delicate balance for me, and here I enjoyed not knowing the answers until the end of the story.
