Detective Mystery Novel Magazine, cover art by Rudolph Belarski. Fall 1948

I knew she was there before I ever laid eyes on her. Her perfume entered the room before she did; orange blossom, jasmine and something dangerous and a little sweaty, like a nervous bride with a stiletto. At first, I couldn’t make out her face – the blinking lights at Kelly’s across the street were doing their usual nighttime rhumba across my floor and I like to keep the lights low when I’m alone, you know what I mean?

As she stood in the doorway, I got another whiff. She smelled expensive. And not like those snooty broads up on Nob Hill, but in a way a regular Joe like me could appreciate: Flowers, a field of ‘em, and smoke from more than a couple of Luckys. Or was it wood smoke? From where she stood it was hard to tell. She pulled another cigarette from a silver box with the initials “S.B.”

Sarah Baker composed Flame and Fortune

“Got a light?” she asked in a low voice that made me think of music, the slow kind. I tossed her my Zippo. As the flame flared I got a quick look at her: heart-shaped face, skin as pale as the cream in my coffee. Tiny waist that looked like it could snap in half if she bent over. And the biggest baby blues this side of the Bay.

I have a job for you, Mr. Jones” she said.

“Dames who turn up at my office at 2 am on a Sunday morning usually do, sweetheart. How’d you know I’d be here?”

Private Detective, cover art Harold Macauley, 1942

“You seem like the kind of fella who keeps late nights. Turn the light on, would you? I don’t want to walk into something and tear my stockings.” Even in the near dark, I could tell she had a helluva pair of gams. I snapped on the small lamp on the desk I keep around for such occasions. She came closer and I smelled more: fresh apricots, spicy ginger, and juice like those little mandarins they serve at the end of a meal in Chinese joints. She smelled like a lot of things, but mostly, she smelled like trouble. Her heels clicked on the wood floor and I wondered if they were trying to tap out an SOS.

“I need you to find out what’s in this,” she said, handing me a small bottle from her purse. The label read Sarah Baker Perfumes Flame and Fortune.

I opened it up and knew right away it was the perfume that drifted into my office a few minutes ago.  There were the orange blossoms again, and the mandarins, this time with a smell of motor oil, like someone drove an Olds into a Fresno orange grove. But it was complicated. A lot more complicated.

Why do you need to know what’s in this juice?” I asked. “I’m no chemist and I don’t sell perfume.”

Noir art by Harry Barton, c. 1950s

“I have my reasons. And it’s more important than you could ever know,” she said, and her eyes misted up like fog a windshield. Oh, she was good, I’ll give her that. “Everyone knows you have the best nose in the business, Mr. Jones. That you can sniff out the truth like a bloodhound.” I looked away. Then her voice got that desperate note in it that tells me when someone’s in deep.  “I need discretion. And there’s five Gs in it for you.” She moved her face under mine, and I caught the jasmine in her hair. “And maybe something more.”

I knew better than to get involved with the female of the species. Been down that road before. But the money was good.

Vintage art poster, unknown artist

“Give me the bottle again,” I said. “And half the money up front. I’ll let you know what I find tomorrow. You got a number?” She shook her head and a blonde curl fell softly over one eye.

“Meet me at Wong Li’s at 4. It’s at the Corner of Geary and Hyde. Don’t be late.” She picked up her purse and smokes and headed out the door but turned back, and I got another long look at those baby blues.

Her perfume hung in the air like a luscious phantom. I took the bottle and sprinkled a little on the back of my hand.  Sarah Baker Flame and Fortune I said out loud. I raised my hand and breathed slow and deep. This little gal was a spicy number. I was surprised it smelled just as good on me as it did on her. Then I took out my pad and made notes. I always take notes. You never know when you’re gonna need a record of things. I sniffed again. There was a lot going on in there all right: fresh apricots and then, a minute later, more ginger and some pepper. Something buttery and curvy like her skin hit me like a silk whip – tuberose, the bombshell flower. Figures. And the ashy smell of her cigarettes. And burnt wood, a lot of it now. I wondered if my client set fire to something or someone. I bet she could, and you’d never see it coming.

After about half an hour, I got a bedroom smell, you know, like musk but not musk. Then it hit me: labdanum. There was also booze – tequila, maybe – and the smell of car oil. Mixed with the flowers and the fruit, this stuff was dynamite and full of sex. I better warn her not to wear it around jealous women or guys who might get the right idea.

The next day, I waited at a booth in Wong Li’s for an hour, but she never showed. I gave my card to the coat check girl, scribbled what I had smelled on the back and left the bottle. A week later, I got another  wad of cash in a manilla envelope stuffed under my door. But I didn’t hear from her again.

Cover art by Robert Maguire

She never told me her name. She vanished into the city like all the other ghosts. Most days, I forget all about her. But then I’ll catch some jasmine or orange blossom in Chinatown when it’s spring and I’ll think of the words Sarah Baker Perfumes Flame and Fortune and see those big baby blues looking right through me. I don’t know if she found what she was looking for. I don’t know if she’s dead or alive. And I’ll never forget the way she smelled.

Notes: Orange blossom, pink pepper, apricot, ginger, mandarin petigrain, lily of the valley, iris, jasmine, tuberose, motor oil, burnt wood, labdanum, fire, mezcal.

Disclaimer: Sample of Sarah Baker Flame and Fortune kindly provided by Sarah Baker. My opinions are my own.

–Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Sarah Baker Perfumes Flame and Fortune was a recipient of a CaFleureBon Best of Scent award from Nicoleta 

Thanks to the generosity of Sarah Baker, we have a 50 ml bottle of Sarah Baker Perfumes Flame and Fortune for one registered reader residing  in the UK or U.S. You must register here. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Sarah Baker Perfumes Flame and Fortune based on Lauryn’s review  and where you live. What’s your favorite  Noir Fiction or movie. and whether you are familiar with Sarah Baker perfumes.  Draw closes 1/8/2020.

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