Book Review: The Scent Of Death By Andrew Taylor

                         The Scent Of Death

 By Andrew Taylor

I haven’t read a lot of historic crime fiction, but when I met Andrew at an Arvon course last summer I decided to start my experience with his latest novel. 

I AM SO GLAD I DID!

The Scent of Death is brilliant.  I thoroughly enjoyed every page of it and as my family will testify I completely ignored them for the three days it took me to read it – they’ll survive! 

Andrew Taylor

Taylor, introduces the reader to the New York 1778 and in the opening scene, where the main character Edward Savill, sent to work in New York also views the city for the first time.  This strikes an immediate chord between Savill and the reader and as the story unfolds we become invested in Edward's fate in terms of his relationship with the mysterious Arabella  and  the murder of a gentleman in the slums.

Taylor writes with a beautiful poignancy that draws you in to the story and make his characters real.  It is this calibre of writing that makes the whole ‘Literary Fiction V Genre fiction’ fade into insignificance.  Good writing is good writing and I would recommend this to any reader, whether a fan of historic crime fiction or not. 

A Scent Of Death can be bought on Amazon: PB £5.59 or Kindle £3.99