The Sweet Scent of Death

Book excerpt: Liars and Tycoons and Perfume, Oh My! In the hilarious, award-winning, romantic mystery The Sweet Scent of Death, PR account executive and transplanted Southerner Jill Cooksey is trying to launch a new fragrance for her client and prove to herself and everyone around her that she's not a complete failure. Otherwise, she's heading home to Virginia. After a glamorous launch event in New York's Central Park, a young starlet turns up dead behind the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, throwing the PR campaign into jeopardy and Jill into a waking nightmare. To save a friend (who may or may not be guilty), appease her client (who happens to be in love with her friend), and keep her career (so she can pay the rent), Jill must stop a killer while turning around a public relations disaster. In over her head, Jill enlists the help of her network of friends in the PR business (a.k.a. her PR Posse) and a cop-turned-reporter she’s not sure she can trust (but to whom she can’t say no). Together they stalk the killer through Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx, all the while encountering gun-toting gypsy cab drivers, psychotic society reporters, and obsessive-compulsive late-night TV hosts. From the Cathedral of St. John the Divine to the seediest strip club in the outer boroughs, Jill tries to piece together the truth while keeping herself alive and her client happy. Fans of Janet Evanovich, Gemma Halliday, Penny Reid, Zara Keane, and Jana Deleon will fall in love with Jill Cooksey, her friends, and her hysterical adventures! WINNER of Richmond Magazine and James River Writers' Best Unpublished Novel Contest! "What I loved most was that this was a mystery that kept me frowning as I tried to figure out the clues among this huge cast of characters (my suspects kept changing and I was so wrong), but smiling at the same time." Author Victoria Christopher Murray, Richmond Magazine The Sweet Scent of Death is a hysterical romp through murder, the media, and Manhattan. It delivers a clever whodunit with a feisty new heroine, a cozy-clean romance with plenty of sparks, and an ensemble of fabulous female friends. Keywords: cozy mystery, funny cozy mystery, funny mystery, funny mystery series, romantic cozy mystery, romantic mystery, chick lit, chick lit mystery, mystery books, romance mystery, romantic suspense, single women books, popular series, series starter, Jill Cooksey, southern humor, fish out of water, mysteries set in New York, PR mystery, public relations, public relations mystery, murder mysteries, female friend books, new cozy mysteries, new mysteries, award winning mysteries, urban mysteries