Lisbeth Reade's "Scent of a Killer: An Ella Sweeting Aromatherapy Magic cozy mystery" was obviously quite fun for her to write, and her creativity does shine through. Her stylistic voice is warm, fun, and very inviting. This reader would have dearly enjoyed learning more about the three witchy Aunt's that pop into protagonist Ella's life, right before her twenty-second birthday, and found herself comparing their zaniness with people from her own past! More magic would have been appreciated, as well, truth be told. Ooo, and more talking cats, too! However, Reade had many punctuation errors that distracted this reader; misplaced comma's representing the greatest complication, as well as some spelling and grammar issues. Transitions from one paragraph to another was rough at times, forcing a "Huh?" out of this reader. The continual erroneous use of the word "me" instead of "my" in sentences throughout the tale created comedic voices to pop into this reader's brain, from the Cookie monster to a Cockney accent - when it likely wasn't intended by the writer, but rather due to editing mistakes. As to the mystery itself, Reade had some well placed red herrings all through the story, but this reader did have it figured out early on... however, it was still an entertaining read, and this reader enjoyed following Reade's carefully laid path of intrigue. Setting descriptions were nicely done, allowing this reader to visualize the various locations easily enough. This reader would have enjoyed stronger character descriptions, as well as some visible personality growth by story end. Ella began as a fairly naive yet gifted in aromatherapy protagonist, and ended the same. Albeit with a new, possible budding romance! The heiress started out completely clueless as to how some of her comments and actions could be somewhat offensive to the working class and remained clueless by story end; however, this reader does not ding Reade for that personality flaw in young Ella, as it also demonstrates some of Ella's blunders and naivete. All in all, this reader did enjoy Reade's tale and does recommend the story for a fun read. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on January 18, 2017, and Goodreads on same date. **
