Scent to Her Grave: A Bath and Body Mystery

The pseudonymous Ink's first bath and body mystery introduces an appealing, credible heroine. In the wake of a failed marriage, 31-year-old Persia Rose Vanderbilt returns home to scenic Gull Harbor, Wash., where she helps out at her independent aunt Florence's bath and beauty shop, Venus Envy. When a disgruntled customer, ill-tempered beauty queen Lydia Wang, is found bludgeoned to death in the shop, the evidence implicates a valued Venus Envy staff member. The smart and savvy Persia must track down the real killer while dealing with demands from her difficult ex-husband and the more welcome attentions of the local police chief. A second murder ups the ante, propelling the well-paced plot to a fitting climax. Under her real name, Yasmine Galenorn, the author writes the Chintz'n China mystery series (Murder Under a Mystic Moon , etc.). Agent, Meredith Bernstein . (Oct.)