"He wore too much aftershave. The fragrance was as aggressive as everything else about him. Top note sandalwood, bottom note obnoxious."

Nice.

(Sidebar: why is sandalwood such a popular descriptive smell for men in contemporary literature? Is it a remnant of the sexed-up outdoorsy lumberjack Alpha Male trope?)

The Mermaid Murders had a tidy mystery that mostly kept my attention, though there was a strange loose end with one of people of interest that never got resolved. That's allowed, supposedly; the narrative does say "it wasn't against the law to be a very weird guy."

What keeps this from a higher rating, for me, is how West and Kennedy went from zero to rutting against a flimsy motel door in nothing flat. The author used the premise of alcohol as impetus, which, ugh, a bit overused but for good reason, I guess. (Another sidebar: West is a bit of a lightweight if two kamikazes can make him that hazy, hah!)

NEW THINGS I LEARNED:
⇴ California Impressionist artist Granville Redmond paints lovely landscape scenes.