The Perfume Collector

Grace Monroe is 28-years-old, a socialite who runs with titled set in 1950s England, and utterly uninspired by it all. Her life is turned on its head when she learns she has inherited a considerable fortune from a Parisian named Eva d'Orsey whose name she has never heard, and whose connection she cannot fathom.

Rather than simply sign on the line, Grace feels compelled to learn more of who Eva was and why she selected her to receive such bounty. Much to the exasperation of her lawyer in Paris, to say nothing of her friends and husband, Grace leaves no stone unturned, ultimately uncovering more than she bargained for.

The Perfume Collector is essentially two stories, that of Grace, a 1950s socialite, and that of Eva, a New York chambermaid who inspired three perfumes before the untimely death of the perfumer who adored her. (In that sense, Kathleen Tessaro's book seems slightly misnamed: as best I can tell, there was no perfume collector, only a perfume maker and a muse.) On the whole, I enjoyed this book, although there were a few details that Tessaro seemed to simply abandon as the story progressed. I'm still scratching my head, for example, about the multiple mentions of the "black Daimlers," which in the end are neither mentioned nor resolved and seemed to serve no purpose.

The character of Grace, too, contained a number of frustration contradictions. She alternates between a spine of steel (breaking into an abandoned building!) and the courage of a jellyfish (her interactions with her friend Mallory and, to a lesser extent, her husband). As for Eva, I would have liked to see more of her "grown-up" character, particularly her war years experiences. As it is, we learn of these through her proxy, Madame Zed.

That said, The Perfume Collector is a page-turner. I read the entire book in two sittings and was invested in Grace's story. This may not have been the *best* book I've read this year, but it is plenty good.

3.5 stars