Just Finished Reading: The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor (FP: 2013)

New York, August 1778. After weeks at sea Edward Savill, a London based clerk of the American department, is glad to see British controlled Manhattan before him. His task is to learn about the political and military situation first hand and to assess cases brought by distressed Loyalists for damages and loss of property caused by the revolutionary war now ragging. On his very first day he is presented with the encapsulation of the situation New York finds itself in – a man has been murdered in the tent city occupied by refugees. The investigation is swift and an informer leads the local soldiers to a young runaway slave in possession of the man’s shoes. Despite a denial the slave is found guilty and hanged. Case closed. But Savill has doubts. Why was the dead man in canvas town to begin with? How is it that the dead man called on Savill’s own New York hosts shortly before his death? Why was the meeting seemingly so trivial that no one can recall it clearly? What happened to the dead man’s wedding ring and why was he carrying a single bone dice in his pocket? Over the next 8 months each of these questions – and especially the seemingly trivial ones – begin to point to a much greater event than the death of a single man. With a later identification pointing towards rebel involvement and rumours of a valuable ‘box of curiosities’ sought by both sides as potentially war winning Savill must try his best to unravel a web of deceit involving his hosts and a secret going back years that everyone denies or lies about. At the centre of it all is Mrs Arabella Wintour, the daughter-in-law of Savill’s host in New York, the wife of a missing soldier and a beautiful woman who begins to fascinate him long before he realises that all roads lead to her past.

This was a very well written, if overly long and at least at times glacially slow novel. Characterisation was generally good although I found the main character a little weak at times. He had his moments but I didn’t think he made much of a hero. Arabella I never really warmed to, she came across as either aloof, spoilt or selfish. Despite her apparent beauty I don’t think I would have enjoyed her company overly much. The New York garrison military man (his name escapes me at the moment) was OK if a little too full of himself. The main antagonist AKA ‘Scarface’ I found to be quite unbelievable despite having a strong motivation for his actions. The only credible people in the book I found were the rebel spies who manipulated Savill through the book almost right to the end. Whilst not exactly a page turner it did hold together enough for me to want to know what was going on – despite barely caring for many of the characters. I did find the events around the story – the early years of the Independence struggle generally only hinted at as background – to be much more interesting that the central story itself which was a shame. I did wish more than once that the author had written about that aspect of the story rather than the one he did focus on. I was ill – only a cold – during part of the reading experience which might be colouring my overall experience but on balance I’d have to say that this was reasonable rather than as good as some of the cover accolades would have you believe.