Steps to the Altar [Hardcover]

Earlene Fowler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2002

Ninth in the Agatha Award-winning series that's been hailed as "engrossing" (Publishers Weekly), Steps to the Altar finds California folk art expert Benni Harper preparing for two upcoming weddings, digging up clues to an decades-old unsolved murder-and struggling with a very personal crisis of the heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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). 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. 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. Though asked only to catalogue the items, Benni becomes fascinated by the potential murder charge against Maple Sullivan, Garvey's widow. Maple fled before her husband's body was found, but she's been found "guilty" in the town's conscience and gossip ever since. 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (April 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425183491
• ISBN-13: 978-0425183496
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #962,977 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

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mysteries Of Love And Marriage, April 8, 2002

By 

Bruce Crocker "agnostictrickster" (Whittier, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steps to the Altar (Hardcover)

Love and marriage are the threads that stitch together the various stories in Earlene Fowler's most recent Benni Harper [quilt] novel, Steps To The Altar. The main mystery involves the unsolved murder of a prominent citizen of San Celina [Fowler's fictionalized version of San Luis Obispo, CA] in the 1940's and Benni Harper's attempts to solve the murder 50 years later [the locals think the wife and her lover did the deed]. This plays out against the backdrop of the ongoing lives of our favorite citizens of San Celina. Story blocks in this well-sewn quilt of a novel include the marriage of Emory and Elvia [Benni's nth cousin and best male friend and Benni's best girl friend], the marriage of Dove and Isaac [Benni's Grandmother and her photographer boyfriend], and the possible breakup of Benni and Gabe Ortiz's two year marriage when an old partner and lover of Gabe's shows up in San Celina. Included at the edges of this quilt are bits and pieces of San Celina's annual Mardi Gras celebration. This is a wonderful novel [as are the others in this series] and I recommend it highly. This goes for male readers as well as for female readers [I admit that I read the first Benni Harper Mystery, Fool's Puzzle, when I was screening novels for my grandmother (Grandma didn't like mysteries with lots of nasty language in them since she'd end up blipping over those sections), but I fell in love with them myself and have continued to read them long after Grandma died]. I bought three copies of the book: one for myself, one for the library at the high school where I teach, and one for a favorite [quilting] colleague of mine [all signed by Ms. Fowler, who is one of the nicest, most sincere people on the planet Earth]. My Mom loves 'em, too! So get a copy, wrap yourself up in your favorite quilt, and enjoy.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wedding blues, April 21, 2002

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steps to the Altar (Hardcover)

Earlene Fowler has written a wonderful series of cozies set on the central California coast and featuring Benni Harper, head of an art co-op and her police chief husband, Gabe. In this ninth book of the series, Benni's best friend Elvia and her grandmother Dove are plannng their respective weddings. At the same time she is busy helping them, Benni is asked to catalogue the letters and keepsakes of a woman named Maple Sullivan who reputedly killed her wealthy husband and ran off with another man. Benni reads Maple's love letters to her husband and has a hard time believing that she could have actually murdered him. The decades old mystery intrigues Benni and it also keeps her mind off her own deteriorating marriage. Gabe has encountered an old girlfriend who makes no secret of the fact that she is out to rekindle their old romance. Fowler seems to hit all the right notes as she continues to develop the characters and situations in this well-written series.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very special book, May 13, 2002

By 

Sue Kreft "born to quilt" (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steps to the Altar (Hardcover)

Earlene Fowler's 9th novel is the most riveting yet, right to the very end. I bought the book on the way home from work one evening, began reading right away, and stayed up till it was finished. I knew I'd never be able to sleep anyway without knowing how Benni and Gabe resolved their problems. I re-read it again over the next few days to savor it more slowly. I was glad for the prologue to Earlene's earlier book, Mariner's Compass, which let us know they were still going strong after 40 years. I think it would have been harder to read without knowing that.

I felt so incredibly sad reading this book, perhaps reliving the feelings from the breakup of my own marriage. Sad also that Benni was unable to really enjoy the celebration of the marriage of her best friend and her favorite cousin. I was glad they finally tied the knot, however, and that their wedding was included in the book.

I especially liked the themes of forgiveness and the grace of God, and how both Benni and Gabe sought advice (albeit unwillingly) from their respective spiritual advisors. Having chapters written from Gabe's point of view this time was enlightening, and made him a more well-rounded person. It's now easier to understand why he sometimes acts the way he does.

The other mystery in this book (besides the one about Benni and Gabe's marriage) was, the fifty-year-old unsolved murder that Benni got involved in to catalog items for the historical society. What she discovered gave her insights into love and marriage, as well as the search for what really happened.

Grandma Dove was a hoot, as always. I wish she were my Grandma! These characters feel so real to me, it's almost hard to believe they are not.

As difficult as it was to experience the feelings this book invoked in me, I think it was very realistic as to what can happen in a marriage to either break it apart or make it stronger. Thanks again to Earlene for yet another wonderful chapter in the lives of Benni and Gabe.