Customer Reviews

State Fair (Benni Harper Mystery)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've enjoyed Earlene Fowler's books for years and this is no exception. Thanks for bringing Benni back! My favorites in this series are Fool's Puzzle, Irish Chain, and Steps to the Altar but I think they are all great books and she has allowed her characters to mature and change throughout. I first started reading the series because of the quilting tie-in but they are really more about friendship, family and love.

Benni Harper Ortiz is the curator of the Sinclair Folk Art Museum and Artist's Co-op. She has every intention of enjoying the San Celina Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles. The Ebony Sisters Quilt Guild, a spin off of the San Celina Quilt Guild, supports an exhibit of African-American quilts. The headliner is a copy of the renowned Harriet Powers' classic story quilt that took one year to replicate.

Benni's plans to enjoy the fair are crushed when she learns the Powers' duplication was stolen. She also finds out that the first black manager of the fair Levi Clark has been receiving hate mail. Trouble comes in threes when Benni finds a corpse in the Piebald Family Farm Exhibit. The victim is white male Calvin Jones, who was dating Les' daughter and at one time was involved with supremacist skinheads. Benni and her Aunt Garnet investigate only to end up in danger from someone who kills without remorse.

It has been a few years since Benni's last inquiry (see Tumbling Blocks), but fans of the series will appreciate her return and that of other friends as the State Fair proves an exciting venture. Putting aside the amateur sleuth too often finding a corpse (see Delectable Mountains) and need to investigate, readers will enjoy the often amusing inquiry by niece and aunt while the heroine's grandmother has a tendency to cool the heat between Benni and her spouse Gabe. Long time fans will welcome Benni back into the fold with this enjoyable whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper books are one of my all time favorites. It was great to read about Benni and feel like part of her family again. This is one of the only authors that I like to buy the book and then the audio CD also. The audio's for this series are great and Johanna Parker sounds exactly like what I would expect Benni to sound like. I am looking forward to hearing the audio version of this book also and can't wait for the next book in the series.

The newest installment of the Benni Harper mysteries just couldn't keep my interest. I ended up mostly skimming the book. I'm afraid Fowler's book, Love Mercy, ruined the Benni Harper series for me. Love Mercy is set in the same town and has some of the same characters, but takes place about 10 years later. (Benni Harper series was set in the 90's, Love Mercy is present day.) By showing the characters from the other series ten years down the road, Fowler removed part of the reason for reading the Benni Harper books. Knowing what happens, or more importantly, didn't happen in Hud's life was a real spoiler, for example. One of Fowler's strong points in writing has always been her characters and their relationships. Knowing pretty much what happens to them takes all the tension out of the relationships. The Benni Harper books were best when Benni and Gabe were working through their relationship, and there was tension about Hud. In the last couple of books the relationships seem to be very much superficial to the book, instead of a main focus. It feels like the author has lost interest in these characters. This is disappointing since the Benni Harper mysteries were some of my absolute favorites, in part because Fowler succeeded in blending the emotional and relational aspects of the book in with the mystery story. I recommend readers start at the beginning of this series and read through Steps to the Altar, which may be the best one of the series.

I always enjoy the books in the Benni Harper series. This one not so much as some of the previous in the series. Benni is up to her ears in trouble, as usual. The state fair is in town and so is Benni's Great Aunt Garnet. Since Aunt Garnet and her sister, Grandma Dove, are at each other's throats (arguing like the sisters that they are), Benni gets recruited to entertain her great aunt. Of course, at the state fair, they find a dead body (Benni has a knack) ... and Garnet and Benni get wrapped up in trying to solve the mystery.

I like the mellower Gabe and the continued interaction between Hud and Benni - but Aunt Garnet was a little over the top to be realistic.

First Line: My day didn't start with a deep-fried Twinkie, although the thought crossed my mind.

It's time for the San Celina County Mid-State Fair, and folk art museum curator Benni Harper is busier than a one-armed paperhanger with the hives. What she doesn't need is her grandmother, Dove, being all riled up at having her sister Garnet visiting the ranch. You see, it's well known in the family that those two sisters, Garnet and Dove, "get along like two bobcats trapped in a burning outhouse."

Set in 1997, racial tensions are running a bit high due to the fair's first black general manager, Levi Clark; Levi's half-white daughter, Jazz; and a long line of Jazz's various suitors. When the replica of the famous Harriet Powers quilt disappears from the museum's exhibit at the fair and is later found wrapped around the body of a dead fairgoer in another exhibit, Benni investigates-- with the help of her great-aunt Garnet (who seems very well-versed in cop shows and mystery novels).

Benni and I have come a long way. I almost didn't continue reading the series past the second book because Benni's second husband, police chief Gabe Ortiz, was such a stiff-necked macho man. I persevered, however, and I'm glad I did. Fowler's characters aren't one-dimensional; they evolve through time.

The characters and the mysteries aren't the only reasons to read the books in this series. Fowler knows how to mix those two ingredients as well as humor, quilting, folklore (like the history of black cloth dolls in this book), and a strong Christian faith into a very entertaining journey with feisty Benni Harper.

If you're new to this series, it's safe to read State Fair without having read any of the others first. Fowler fills in enough details to keep you headed in the right direction.

For any of you who may worry a bit about my mentioning "strong Christian faith", these books are the furthest thing from being preachy, and the characters' religious beliefs are not force fed to the reader. More than anything, the characters' faith is shown as doing the right thing and treating others with respect. On the other side of the coin, if you're in the mood for a mystery series with faith and morals, I would suggest you sit down with Benni Harper and her family.

I Learned a lot about State Fairs and Black Rag Dolls. For that I am grateful.

In my opinion the book was to busy. Too many characters! I had to go back and forth to keep up with who was who. The ending was a surprise and was why I rated it with three stars.

The basic story line is interesting: a young white man who had been dating a biracial girl is found murdered at the fair, his body wrapped in the replica of a historic quilt made by a former slave. The solution to the crime is surprising yet quite plausible. A special plus in the book is the way race relations are handled, and it seems to me that the feelings of racial and ethnic minorities, Black and Hispanic, are portrayed in a sympathetic and sensitive manner without being preachy. However, this story would have been better if it had been shorter and more fast paced. As it is, it drags, with space filled in with endless descriptions of events at the state fair, and endless rehashing of the the possible suspects and motives in the murder. Also, the sub-plot of the visit of Dove's sister Garnet is dragged out far too long. Nonetheless, I recommend the book. Just be prepared to do a lot of skimming over the verbal padding.

I enjoyed this book, although it is not the best in the series. I appreciate that Benni and Gabe are growing and changing, as the characters in many mystery series do not. I also like that their relationship has matured, and they are no longer constantly working at cross purposes. That said, I also miss the passion of their relationship in previous books! They have become a little too comfortable, which is realistic but a bit disappointing. The story line is good, but for me the characters are what make these books.

Welcome back Bennie Harper! Have read all the books in the series and love them all. Reading "State Fair" was like welcoming back old friends. Love all the characters and Earlene Fowler is an excellent story teller. Looking forward to more books in the series and appreciate that they are available on Kindle. Thank you publisher!