Romantic Times as well as handselling to romance readers could help Fowler expand beyond her core audience. Will Benni solve the old murder? Will her marriage survive the lust of Del Hernandez-and the come-ons to herself from an acerbic sheriff's deputy? Will her best friend, cousin and grandmother all make it to their respective altars, fulfilling the prophecy of the Steps to the Altar quilt made for one couple? The answers to these questions make delicious reading, with plenty of passion, snappy dialogue and a whiz-bang plot. Maple fled before her husband's body was found, but she's been found 'guilty' in the town's conscience and gossip ever since. Though asked only to catalogue the items, Benni becomes fascinated by the potential murder charge against Maple Sullivan, Garvey's widow. Just as Benni doesn't think she can keep one more plate spinning in her busy life, two crises crop up: first, Del starts deliberately going after Gabe-and lets Benni know it second, Benni is asked to inventory four trunks full of materials possibly related to the decades-old bludgeoning death of wealthy Garvey Sullivan. In the California coastal town of San Celina, there are weddings and wished-for weddings, plus the threatened demise of Benni's two-year marriage to police chief Gabe Ortiz, brought about by the appearance of Gabe's former female partner, Del Hernandez. She should have a good shot at winning another with this superior effort.In a story sewn together as tightly as a traditional quilt, Agatha Award–winner Fowler delivers superior cozy entertainment in her ninth Benni Harper mystery (after 2001's Arkansas Traveler). (May 4)įorecast: The author won an Agatha for 1999's Plenty of exciting PG-rated action-some mild flirtation and innuendo is as sexy as it gets-will keep the reader turning the pages, while Fowler's sense of humor crops up in character names like Kitty Katz and Bunny Hopp, as well as in Benni's wise and witty personality.

Rumors that a syndicated travel critic is secretly among the ranch's first guests add to the staff's already abundant distress, and tempers and tensions stretch to their absolute limits. Gabe's presence at the Broken Dishes insures more testosterone-fueled battles than the ones already boiling between Johnny and head wrangler Whip.

Finding a dead body, albeit skeletal, around Benni is nothing new, and neither is the arrival of Detective Ford 'Hud' Hudson-their paths have crossed before, and not to the liking of Benni's luscious Latino hubby, Police Chief Gabe Ortiz.

The opening of the retreat goes smoothly, until a makeshift grave is discovered during the ladies' first trail ride. ), one of the best yet in this well-written cozy series, quilter Benni comes to the rescue of Shawna and Johnny Abbot, the new owners of the Broken DIS (aka the Broken Dishes) cattle ranch, now converted to a guest ranch. In Fowler's 11th Benni Harper mystery (after 2003's Sunshine and Shadow

Steps to the Altar by Earlene Fowler