Book of Lost Fragrances (Rose)

Book Reviews

M. J. Rose’s multi-stranded plot skillfully hits all the right buttons, blending exotic settings, romance, and paranormal fantasy with political intrigue into a colorful story that would be right at home as a Hollywood thriller.
New York Journal of Books


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.
Publishers Weekly


The existence of an ancient fragrance from Cleopatra's perfumery rumored to induce memories of past lives has been a family legend of the historic perfume House of L'Etoile for generations.... When Robbie [L'Etoile] discovers ancient Egyptian pottery shards in the family archives, he turns to [his sister] Jac's former lover, archaeologist Griffin North, to help him re-create the lost scent.... Verdict: Rose's fourth volume in the Reincarnationist series (The Reincarnationist; The Memoirist; The Hypnotist) smoothly blends historical events, compelling characters, and international intrigue into an absorbing and thrilling ride through the centuries.  —Joy Gunn, Henderson Libs., NV
Library Journal


Having found shards of an Egyptian perfume pot an ancestor brought home from Egypt in 1799, [Robbie L 'Etoile] convinces archaeologist Griffin...to translate the pot's hieroglyphics. He believes they list the ingredients to a scent that releases memories of former lives and plans to give the information to the Dalai Lama to support the Buddhist belief in reincarnation. .... When Robbie goes missing along with the pottery shards, leaving a dead Chinese Mafioso asphyxiated in his workroom, Jac [his sister] flies to Paris. Soon Griffin is helping her search for Robbie.... Although cynics would say that the convoluted plot is built on coincidence, Rose's characters repeatedly preach that coincidence does not exist; maybe not, but here's proof that claptrap does.
Kirkus Reviews