The Scent of Murder

The Jazz Ramsey Mysteries, Book 1

By: Kylie Logan

Narrated by: Emily Pike Stewart

A riveting mystery following Jazz Ramsey as she trains cadaver dogs

The way Jazz Ramsey figures it, life is pretty good. She is 35 years old and owns her own home in one of Cleveland's most diverse, artsy, and interesting neighborhoods. She has a job she likes as an administrative assistant at an all-girls school and a volunteer interest that she's passionate about - Jazz is a cadaver dog handler.

Jazz is working with Luther, a cadaver dog in training. Luther is still learning cadaver work, so Jazz is putting him through his paces at an abandoned building that will soon be turned into pricey condos. When Luther signals a find, Jazz is stunned to see the body of a young woman who is dressed in black and wearing the kind of make-up and jewelry that Jazz used to see on the Goth kids back in high school.

She is even more shocked when she realizes that, beneath the tattoos and the piercings and all that pale make up, is a familiar face.

The lead detective on the case is an ex-lover, and the murdered woman is a former student. Jazz finds herself sucked into this case, obsessed with learning the truth.

©2019 Kylie Logan (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Unpredictable, Kept Me Guessing

I picked this audiobook because it has a dog in the story and enjoyed listening to the story about or Jazz Ramsey is thirty-five years old and owns her own home in one of Cleveland’s most diverse, artsy, and interesting neighborhoods. She has a job she likes as an administrative assistant at an all-girls school, and a volunteer interest she’s passionate about being a cadaver dog handler.

Jazz is working with Luther, a cadaver dog in training. Luther is still learning cadaver work, so Jazz is putting him through his paces at an abandoned building that will soon be turned into pricey condos. Luther signals a find and Jazz is stunned to see the body of a young woman who is dressed in black and wearing the kind of make-up and jewelry that Jazz used to see on the Goth kids back in high school.

This has a lot of twists and turns and kept me guessing.

Great story and narration

I’ve seen some frustrated complaints that a cover with a dog on the front signals that the dog will more front and center in the story. I find that many cozies with pets written into the storyline feel forced. The “amount” of dog presence in the story felt natural and fitting. And overall, I felt the story was very well written. I wasn’t thrilled with the love interest (he seemed a bit too condescending), but overall, character development and setting were solid. The plot was well supported and engaging. Well done. Narration was also a pleasure to listen to.

could be better

the story isn't bad. the protagonist is the typical "bold but not very wise" woman who keeps investigating. However, there are some issues with the story. One -- current estimates are that there are about 500 cadaver dogs in the US. That would be about 10 for every state. Yet our "expert" trainer who had a dog that was well qualified and who died only recently, has never seen a dead body before? Training would include finding such (as with the FBI "body farm". Finding one unexpectedly, sure, but never before? And no explanation of why Jazz went into this and not into search and rescue is ever given. She used to date a cop but seems unaware of the significant risks (and possible interference with an investigation) she's taking in her "i need closure" effort -- and there's also a problem there -- her dad's death from a "backdraft" at an arson fire is brought up repeatedly, but nothing on any actual investigation as to who committed the crime. Another frustration is that once we have the initial find, the dog might as well be out of the story altogether. The narration is clear, the "mystery" isn't bad, but it's not that much about a woman with a very interesting and necessary skill utilizing it in any significant way.

Excellent

A great beginning to what I hope will be a long and wonderful series. Much more in depth characterization than the usual cozies. I loved the main character and found the Cleveland scene an interesting change of scene. Made me want to go there, ha! Having been in one I found the Catholic girl's school activity true to life and convincing. Loved it and I can hardly wait to read the next one in the series. Well done Kylie Logan! Well done Emily Pike Stewart!

I took a chance

Jazz is an interesting character and I look forward to the direction the author is going to take her.
When I bought this book, I bought it because of the possibility of another great canine mystery series. The series still has that potential. I was just a little disappointed that there wasn’t more canine interaction in the book. I think with the ending of this first book, future books will have more in them. So I am going to look forward to book to!

Great new read

This book is really good. The two main characters seem to work real well together.

Just ok

The book is ok but is super duper slow. I probably won't get the next one because I barely got through this one.

The cover is a sham. Dogs not involved.

I was very excited to try a "new to me" canine mystery...what a disappointment. Honestly the narration included the dog for a total of 8 minutes for the entire book. This is not a canine mystery in any way shape or form. Beyond that disappointment was a story that went no where except round and round the subject matter and left you not caring who murdered whom. I won't waste my credits or my time listening to any other in this series.

Lack of research

Cadaver dogs don’t get trained by people who have full bodies in their freezers. There is a multitude of training aids available including bodies under specific circumstances but not by a trainer who horde bodies in either fridge or freezer in their garage. Finger nails, teeth, hair, used female care products and cadaver scent samples both real and pseudo scent training aids among other things are common practice but not bodies in a garage.