Read time: 3 minutes
📱📖 Read on Kobo | 📃 304 pages | ⏱ Duration: ~4 hours
🏷️ Publisher: Kensington Publishing (Kensington Cozies)
📅 Release Date: February 24, 2026 | 📌 ARC provided by NetGalley
Book Blurb:
Lise Bloom has a secret gift called clairalience. Instead of seeing auras, she smells them. Every person she meets gives off a ribbon of scent revealing emotions, intentions, and sometimes danger. While working at a New Age shop called the Lucky Lotus, Lise stumbles into murder when her boss is found dead surrounded by unfamiliar, ominous smells. Worse, Lise becomes the prime suspect after leaving evidence behind at the scene. To clear her name, she must trust her unusual magic and follow her nose through small-town secrets, toxic relationships, and a killer who may be closer than she thinks.
Let’s talk … murder!!!
After feeling underwhelmed by the Josie Way series, I was hopeful when Angela M. Sanders announced a fresh start with A Whiff of Murder. Lise Bloom was introduced in Witch and Tell (Witch Way Librarian #7), and I liked her there enough to feel optimistic about her stepping into the lead role. Her gift of reading “fragrance ribbons” felt creative and had the potential to set this paranormal cozy apart. I loved the Oregon setting, the quirky side characters, and Sanders’s usual knack for small‑town charm.
But somewhere between the incense sticks and the melodrama, things drifted a little too YA for my taste. In this book, Lise comes across as far more childish than expected, especially in how she handles conflict. The rivalry with Detective Signe felt rooted in high school grudges rather than adult motivations, which made both characters feel emotionally underdeveloped. Signe’s determination to view Lise as guilty simply because of a shared past rivalry stretched credibility and weakened the investigative tension.
The mystery itself is serviceable, and the clairalience concept remains the strongest element. This feels like a book that wanted to be cozy fun but stumbled in character execution. Still, Sanders’s prose remains smooth, and I can see die‑hard cozy fans enjoying the light paranormal twist.
Would I recommend it?
If you enjoy cozy mysteries with a sprinkle of magic and small‑town gossip, you might find A Whiff of Murder a pleasant weekend diversion. For me, it didn’t quite capture the spark of Sanders’s earlier work, but it’s far from a total miss.
To follow the bookish vibes…
- Witch Upon a Star by Angela M. Sanders – a stronger entry from the original Witch Way Librarian series.
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Bait and Witch by Angela M. Sanders – where cozy magic meets small‑town mystery beginnings.
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Magical Cats Mysteries by Sofie Kelly – for cat‑loving readers who like gentle paranormal touches. Start with the first in the series “Curiosity Thrilled the Cat” linked below
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - A Spell for Trouble by Esme Addison – another magical cozy set in a seaside town, full of folklore flair.
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Tulle Death Do Us Part by Diane Vallere – for those who love quirky heroines facing murder with style.
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Follow Your Nose or Leave It on the Shelf?
Have you ever stuck with an author you love, hoping the next series would click? Let’s talk expectations versus reality in cozy mysteries.
Book Links:
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That secret skill is really creative. I want it! I’d also be disappointed if I’d read something that was more YA than I expected. Thanks for sharing!
Yes this would have been a perfect main character special skill to solve the murder. Similar to That Murder Feeling by Neve Maslakovic. I’d recommend that over this. This book could have been much better, in my opinion. So much potential.