Delectable Mountains (Benni Harper Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Earlene Fowler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Benni Harper Mystery | Publication Date: May 2, 2006

When the musical director of Benni’s church is called away, Benni’s gramma Dove eagerly volunteers the both of them to take over the children’s play. But the production comes to a screeching halt when Benni discovers the broken body of the church handyman in front of the altar. Then comes the unexpected appearance of her husband’s cousin, and the disappearance of a valuable antique violin from the Mission Santa Celine. With a growing cast of suspects and a little girl as the only witness to the crime, Benni must unravel a plot of theft and murder before it’s curtains for her…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. No wonder Benni Harper fans are so faithful—the woman can't even stay out of trouble in church. At the start of Fowler's topnotch 12th cozy to feature the quilter and amateur sleuth (after 2004's Broken Dishes), Benni stumbles on the body of church handyman Walt Adams, who's oozing blood onto the sanctuary's new carpeting. Who would hurt a sweet old caretaker? On the other hand, what did anyone really know about Walt's past? Both the policemen in Benni's life—her Latino hunk hubby, Gabe Ortiz, and Ford "Hud" Hudson, who'd love to be more than her friend—warn her to leave the detective work to the professionals, but as usual, Benni leaps first and thinks later. Between Walt's murder and the disappearance of a valuable violin from the San Celina, Calif., folk museum, Gabe and Benni have their hands full. The surprise visit of Gabe's long-estranged cousin, Luis, adds to their difficulties, as he and Gabe seek to work through their differences, and Benni seeks to referee. Gabe's reluctance to open up to Benni propels the three-year Ortiz-Harper union into some rough waters. A heart-hammering hostage situation leads to a highly unexpected ending, while most readers will approve of the almost-but-not-quite-resolved Benni-Hud relationship. <
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In San Celina, California, Benni Harper is curator of the local folk art museum, and her husband, Gabe Ortiz, is chief of police. There's a huge tangle of friends, relations, and family members attached to the couple: in this tale, the focus is on Gabe's cousin, Luis, who is close as a brother, and Benni's grandma, Dove, who raised her and who has roped her into helping with the children's Christmas pageant at the Baptist Church. Then Benni finds the church's reclusive handyman murdered in the sanctuary; meanwhile, an antique violin goes missing from Benni's museum. The solving of one crime becomes intertwined with that of the other, as Fowler mixes the mystery plot with some fairly didactic tableaux about the value of faith, the complexities of memory and marital fidelity, immigration procedure and practice, and how the police manage hostage situations. A series that had been progressing nicely seems stalled a bit here, bur fans' interest in Benni may get them through the clunky exposition. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425206521
• ISBN-13: 978-0425206522
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Greetings from a native Southern Californian!

I've been married 37 years to my high school sweetheart, Allen, who was born in Kansas. We met when we were fifteen. We don't have children, but are owned by a spoiled and extremely intelligent Pembroke Welsh corgi named Boudin. We call him Boo. Though I'm a native Southern Californian, my parents are not. My father was born in Colorado and grew up in a migrant worker family. My mother's family were cotton sharecropers in Arkansas. I've been writing since I was in my late-twenties. I published my first novel, Fool's Puzzle, when I was in my late thirties. I like to ride horses when I can (and luckily, have friends who own horses), walk my dog, travel with my husband, sometimes do scrapbooking when I have time. I have three sisters. I'm the number two sister.

I was named after my father and my grandfather. Both of them are named Earl. The first book I remember reading by myself was Curious George. I think it was the one where he went to the circus. My favorite fictional character is Old Yeller. He had courage and loyalty, two virtues I admire greatly. If I wasn't a writer, I'd love to be a dog trainer. Back in the 1980's, for a year and a half, I taught a weekly craft class at a retirement home in Covina, California. My youngest member was in her late sixties; my oldest was ninety-eight. Those fifteen women taught me way more than I ever taught them. I love strawberry ice cream and fried tacos. Together or separately. Doesn't matter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you love about her books and more!, May 3, 2005

By 

Laura A. R. Wingfield "whodunit" (Kansas City, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Delectable Mountains (Benni Harper Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Earlene Fowler's Books stand out because of the relationships of her characters. This book gives you so many insights into her regular cast of characters that this alone is worth the read, but this book really surprised me. I had several things figured out pretty closely and then she threw me completely. By the end I found myself tearing up on the plane as I read the end of the book.
Hud, Gabe, everyone else show us new facets of their characters and the new characters are the keys to a lot of this. One character I really hope to see more of in up coming books. The mystery is a good one, it held a surprise I didn't see coming but as always, the real gift of these books is the time spent with characters who have become like friends over the years. This was a great addition to a wonderful series. I won't go over the plot here because other reviews will and I don't want to know that much before I read it, just if it was a good read, this is a very good read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting Benni Harper mystery, May 4, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Delectable Mountains (Benni Harper Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In San Celina, California Benni Harper has her hands full as the wife of the chief of police, curator of the local folk art museum, attending two church committees and being a participant for the heritage walk. Yet when her grandmother Dove asks her to help put together the children's church musical of Pilgrim's Progress she is unable to tell the woman who raised her no. At the same, Benni has unexpected company when her husband Gabe's cousin, Luis, drops in unexpectedly.

Surprisingly, Benni has life under control until she finds the dead body of the church custodian Walt Adams. She notices immediately he was murdered by blunt force trauma to the head and nobody knows why the man who was kindness itself was murdered. Shortly thereafter, a valuable violin that is exhibited in the church is found to be a forgery. The original instrument is worth over a million dollars. Between the robbery and the murder Gabe has his hands full with Benni conducting her own parallel investigation because she thinks the two crimes are linked. Little does she know that before the perpetrators are revealed, she will put her own life at risk to save the innocents who are in harm's way.

Earlene Fowler has written another exciting Benni Harper mystery but DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS is extra special. Readers, used to seeing Benni's thoughts, get inside the psyche of Gabe who must cope with two major crimes, a hostage situation, his wife's sleuthing, and the volatile relationship that exists between him and his cousin. The mystery is very cleverly designed so that it is impossible to figure out what is really going on even though there are solid clues sprinkled throughout the exhilarating storyline.

Harriet Klausner

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun read!, May 17, 2005

By 

Coppertop (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delectable Mountains (Benni Harper Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This was another great offering from Earlene Fowler. The ending was a total shocker for me...always a good thing in a mystery! The characters were just wonderful - the little girl, Angelina is so sweet. I was actually hoping that she'd be a recurring character, but it looks like she won't. But the characters and plot were fantastic as always! Definitely worth a read - and of course you need to go back and read all the ones before it!