The Book of Lost Fragrances

Starred review from January 9, 2012
Ranging from 18th-century Egypt and France to present-day Paris, New York, and China, Rose’s deliciously sensual novel of paranormal suspense smoothly melds a perfume-scented quest to protect an ancient artifact with an ages-spanning romance. When Robbie L’Etoile of the failing House of L’Etoile perfumery discovers, in the family’s Paris workshop, pottery shards holding traces of a perfume that can cause recall of previous lives, he shares his discovery with archeologist Griffin North, an old family friend who’s the ex-lover of Jac, Robbie’s clairvoyant sister and a myth scholar. After exposure to the shards, Jac finds herself balancing visions of the lives of grieving lovers from the past with her own complicated feelings about Griffin. Robbie, a Buddhist, later disappears after the Chinese mafia learns he intends to give the pottery to the Dalai Lama to support the hopes of Tibetans in exile. Rose (The Hypnotist) imbues her characters with rich internal lives in a complex plot that races to a satisfying finish. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writer’s House.