Scent of Lavender

Maggie Murphy is an expert cook who uses unusual herbs and flowers in the creation of dishes that she shares in her original cookbooks. She accepts the fact that she is hearing impaired but refuses to let the fact dampen her enthusiasm for life. Doctor George Collier Thomlinson IV, a writer of mystery novels is a paraplegic that sustained the injuries as a teenager. The two meet at the local library in Collier, Wisconsin where they clash over the use of a book on lavender and end up becoming involved in a dark crime. Their reclusive lives devoted to writing are changed by the events surrounding the death of a fourteen-year-old boy. A questionable religious group called the “Woods People” contributes to the layered mystery of abuse and secrets brought to light by the couple.

In the process of solving the crime, Cole and Maggie personally grow, as their involvement with each other becomes more intimate. Cole, a stoic, demanding man who arduously pursues his physical therapy and mystery writing to the neglect of all else, becomes more open and gentle. Maggie, a sensitive and kind introvert, learns assertiveness. She also discovers that love doesn’t have to mean compliance, but always means forgiveness.

Cole puts the theme of the story into words when he quotes Robert McKenna, author of THE SAND PEBBLES. “Each of us is living our own personal work of art.” True beauty is within each individual. Everyone can have dreams and achievements.