Florida Book Awards Silver Medal for Florida NonFictionampquotFANTASTIC. If I did not know most of the main players I would have thought the author had a vivid and twisted imagination.ampquotPaul Martin Brown author of Wild Orchids of FloridaampquotA fascinating true story of obsession greed and lust for the unobtainable. Reminds me a great deal of The Maltese Falcon. This rare flower is definitely the stuff that dreams are made of.ampquotAce Atkins author of Devilamp39s Garden and InfamousampquotPittman has captured the extreme competition unique characters and general insanity that often typify the orchid world. The Scent of Scandal exemplifies how passion and profit can overrule common sense and the law.ampquotScott Steward former associate editor North American Native Orchid JournalAfter its Peruvian discovery in 2002 Phragmipedium kovachii became the rarest and most soughtafter orchid in the world. Prices soared to 10000 on the black market. Then one showed up at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens where every year more than 100000 people visit. They come for the lush landscape on Sarasota Bay and for Selbyamp39s vast orchid collection one of the most magnificent in the world.amp160amp160amp160amp160The collision between Selbyamp39s scientists and the smugglers of Phrag. Kovachii a rare ladyslipper orchid hailed as the most significant and beautiful new species discovered in a century led to search warrants a grand jury investigation and criminal charges. It made headlines around the country cost the gardens hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and led to tremendous internal turmoil.amp160amp160amp160amp160Investigative journalist Craig Pittman unravels this tangled web to shine a spotlight on flaws in the international treaties governing trade in endangered wildlifewhich may protect individual plants and animals in shipping but do little to halt the destruction of whole colonies in the wild.amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160The Scent of Scandal unspools like a