Looking to get him to ask you out? Desperate to regain your husband’s attention? Or maybe you simply want men killing each other to get at you? David J. Trulove can help.

David J. Trulove is the purported head of Trulove Perfume. Trulove perfume ads peppered comic books in the 1950s. Like many ads for fragrance today, they promise seduction and, curiously, bypass what the perfume actually smells like. But Mr. Trulove doesn’t mess around with fancy models in diaphonous gowns and vague references to the modern woman. No, he goes right to the meat: love and power…

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I’m writing this from Vancouver B.C., where the mystery author-fan convention Left Coast Crime is in full gear. The hotel lobby smells of the Hyatt Regency’s piped-in rose and steam-iron aldehydes, and the 300+ authors milling in the conference rooms and draining bottles of wine in the bar smell like….well, not much.

Over the past few days, I asked a few dozen authors what perfume they wore. I got a lot of “I don’t wear perfume” and “I used to wear perfume.” For instance, Becky Clark quit wearing perfume because it rubbed off on her children “and they smelled like old ladies.” But I did get a few hits…

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