The Scent of Death

When all hope is lost. When there's no-one else left to call...
Dudley the Labrador is a cadaver dog specifically trained to sniff out human remains. His handler, Jennifer, suffers from an unusual phobia which has left her socially isolated.
When together they uncover the corpse of a missing child, Jennifer begins to feel a deep, personal connection to the case. Dissatisfied by the direction of the official police investigation, she resolves to unravel the mystery herself. In doing so, she must first unravel herself...

Readers' comments (final chapter): 'great book', 'superb' 'wonderful, incredible, fantastic!' 'wow, just wow', 'wonderfully satisfying', 'I love this book'

Status: completed
Genre: mystery/suspense
Target readership: adults
Narrative style: psychological depth, frequent twists, semi-literary
Length: 75,000 words (approximately 300 standard novel pages)

Author: Michael D Smith, Wattys award winner (The Painted Altar, 2020, literary fiction)

Extract:

It was then that the barking came, somewhere a hundred or so metres off to my right. Not his usual playful response, but instead a focused, constant noise - a quick-fire volley of woofs like rounds from a machine gun. His 'found something' bark.

My heart quickened along with my step, the flashlight boring through the darkness. The moist barks of the trees deflected against my outstretched hand; pernicious branches whipped at my thighs, my chest, my face.

"Stay there boy! You just stay right there."

The barking was incessant, grew louder with each step. At last the thick maze of tree trunks relented and there he was, framed in the soft-edged beam of the torchlight in the centre of a small clearing. His tail swooshing manically, snout directed at the ground.

Stooping myself down beside him, I slanted the flashlight to the earth, squinted in close examination. Nothing - just dirt, twigs and damp leaves.

A shallow grave.

The lifeless body of Meghan Shaw had been tossed into a shallow grave.