The Collector of Dying Breaths by M. J. Rose
We are delighted to welcome novelist M. J. Rose to Omnimystery News today.
M. J. is touring this month to promote her new novel of suspense The Collector of Dying Breaths (Atria; April 2014 hardcover, audio and ebook formats), a lush and imaginative novel that crisscrosses time as a perfumer and a mythologist search for the fine line between potion and poison, poison and passion … and past and present.
We are pleased to introduce you to the book with an excerpt from Chapter 19.
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THAT NIGHT, JAC FELL ASLEEP EASILY, cosseted by the down pillows and comforter. Her dreams were full of the perfumer who had lived here so many centuries ago. In his secret laboratory, she saw him mixing up potions and recipes, stirring, shaking and sniffing. At one point he picked up his head and looked right at her, as if she were in the room with him, as if he could actually see her. And then he spoke to her. All this I do for you. To see you again. To be with you again. Please God, it will work. Because without you I am lost to the world.
In her sleep Jac felt the power of his words like a perfumed wind, blowing around her, embracing her. The most profound sense of longing overwhelmed her. Jac tried to go to him. Tried to move toward him. Wanted him to take her in his arms. Want to bury her face in his chest and have him stroke her hair. Wanted to feel his rough lips bruising hers. Oh, how she wanted him. But she was a half a millennium away. And they were forever separated by time.
She woke up suddenly. Soaked with sweat. The perfumer had seemed so familiar to her. Her feelings for him were the same as her feelings for Griffin. Was it possible that-No. She would not entertain the thought. But she couldn't escape it, could she? Jac could almost hear Malachai asking her how she could even question what the dream revealed: that in a previous incarnation Griffin had most likely lived a life as the perfumer. Time was coming full circle again.
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Photo provided courtesy of
M. J. Rose
M. J. Rose is a founding board member of International Thriller Writers and founded the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. Rose lives in Connecticut with composer Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled dog, Winka.
To learn more about M. J. Rose and her work, please visit her website at MJRose.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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The Collector of Dying Breaths
M. J. Rose
A Novel of Suspense
Florence, Italy — 1533: An orphan named René le Florentin is plucked from poverty to become Catherine de Medici's perfumer. Traveling with the young duchessina from Italy to France, René brings with him a cache of secret documents from the monastery where he was trained: recipes for exotic fragrances and potent medicines — and a formula for an alchemic process said to have the potential to reanimate the dead. In France, René becomes not only the greatest perfumer in the country but the most dangerous, creating deadly poisons for his Queen to use against her rivals. But while mixing herbs and essences under the light of flickering candles, Rene doesn't begin to imagine the tragic and personal consequences for which his lethal potions will be responsible.
Paris, France — The Present: A renowned mythologist, Jac L'Etoile, is trying to recover from personal heartache by throwing herself into her work, learns of the 16th century perfumer who may have been working on an elixir that would unlock the secret to immortality. She becomes obsessed with René le Florentin's work — particularly when she discovers the dying breathes he had collected during his lifetime. Jac's efforts put her in the path of her estranged lover, Griffin North, a linguist who has already begun translating René le Florentin's mysterious formula. Together they confront an eccentric heiress in possession of a world-class art collection. A woman who has her own dark purpose for the elixir … a purpose for which she believes the ends will justify her deadly means.
