Book Review: The Fragrance of Death by Leslie Karst

Disclosure: I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for this post. All opinions here are my own.

Foodie bibliophiles looking for a lighthearted murder mystery, this one is for you.

The fifth book in the Sally Solari mystery series The Fragrance of Death follows restaurateur Sally, who has lost her sense of smell due to a sinus infection. As one can imagine, this is detrimental for someone who works in the restaurant industry.

Despite this setback, she still competes in a cooking contest where Neil Lerici, another contestant and former high school peer, is found dead with an artichoke in his mouth. This happens within the first chapter — author Leslie Karst wasted no time. Sally then finds herself yet again as a sleuth, and juggles her loss of smell, running her restaurant, and romance life with solving the murder mystery.

Throughout the book, there are a few fun food references, such as a grisly pun on the word “artichoke” (emphasis on “choke”) or when Sally names her restaurant orders as suspects while she’s cooking. There are even a few recipes included at the end of the novel. The fun take on the recipes is that they are written from Sally’s point of view, citing characters in the book.

I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I myself could not figure it out and was pleasantly surprised when the killer was discovered. There are quite a few red herrings thrown in, and I succumbed to a few false predictions myself.

I highly recommend this book for those who need a brief escape from the heaviness of Karin Slaughter-esque thrillers. Even though I did not read the previous four books in the series, I found the references easy to comprehend and was not in the dark. This is a quick read with a dash of romance and sprinkles of humor throughout. The question is, will you figure out who the killer is?

To find out, purchase the book on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles.