Artis-Ann , Features Writer

The Sweet Smell Of The Rose : Silent Accusation By Lesley Scott

To quote Billy Connolly - ‘Books are your ticket to the whole world. They’re a free ticket to the entire earth.’ Of course, sometimes, they take you even further than that as you enter a new world, meet new people and explore new locations. So, as I open Silent Accusation, I find myself in the company of Peter, a young stockbroker, very newly promoted, with his arrogant outward swagger and inner niggling doubts. I trail his confident stride along London streets and share his taxi ride home to a flat ‘his finances had outgrown’. He is clutching a second-hand book he has picked up in a little shop along the way. He hasn’t paid for it, a genuine mistake but not worthy of the effort of returning it. This is Peter Tyler, our illustrious hero.

At times I quickened my reading pace, not always wanting to savour events as they unfolded ...
It's a very normal opening to a not so normal plot as Peter finds himself pitted against a macabre enemy. The reader is quickly engrossed in his life. It’s unsettling: he has a boss he cannot let down, a girlfriend he must, and all while he is plagued with thoughts of a father he has never been able to please and a mother he adores. All this is punctuated with frequent interruptions from an unknown source. Christmas, staying with his sister and her family, is full of strange noises and fleeting shadows; it can’t all be ‘sounds travel[ling] strangely in old houses’. And just what does the vicar think he is ‘carrying’ and why does he beg Peter to go and see him? Silent Accusation has the charm of a Victorian ghost story, but is set in the 1980s, full of colour and ambition.

It's a very normal opening to a not so normal plot...
Despite recognising echoes of Woman in Black, not my favourite book, I was compelled to read on, knowing that Pete will have to face strange forces once he realises what his task is and how it is connected to the book he so innocently picked up – or perhaps the book chose him! At last, he recognises and accepts the challenge and tries to find out more about Edward Featherstone whose handwritten business card conveniently falls out from between the pages. As Pete learns about the life, and death, of the man, his journey becomes one of twists, turns and tragedy while his life takes a rollercoaster ride. He is terrified by something he cannot see, often wary of the sense of someone standing behind him but turning to find no one there, awakened by strange scraping noises and thus compelled to continue his quest to find out more, in order to restore peace to his life.

How do you explain that you’re being haunted and controlled by the supernatural force of a dead man – or woman? How do you make it sound rational? How do you reassure your sister when your five-year-old nephew seems to be sharing your psychic connection? How do you explain any of this to your boss who thinks you’re burnt out at twenty-five and not worthy of the trust he so recently put in you? As a reader, it is necessary to suspend disbelief and accept that someone else is in control and that they may not inhabit an earthly form.

Whether you share her beliefs or not, it’s an engrossing read...
At times I quickened my reading pace, not always wanting to savour events as they unfolded (you may have guessed that I’m not normally a fan of ghost stories), but eager to know the ending. Ultimately, the haunting laughter had its day and the scent of roses may never smell as sweet. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

This is the debut novel of Lesley Scott whose experiences, she says, have drawn her to the paranormal. Whether you share her beliefs or not, it’s an engrossing read. Characters are well drawn although there are few you would want to call your friends. Well written, it sustains the narrative flow with a quickening pace, and I finished it in two days!


Silent Accusation is published by The Book Guild Ltd