Broken Dishes

Well done. My first adventure with Earlene Fowler and it was fun and well written. Plot will keep you turning pages particularly when you realize that Earlene Fowler avoids each and every cliches you think you see coming. Her characters, including the protagonist Benni Harper, are real people, some of whom you might would to know. Others remind you that you know someone just like that! After you have that thought when you meet Rita, Benni Harper reminds you that kindness and grace are more important than dismissing someone who just can't help it. Looking forward to the other 11 novels in the Benni Harper series.

Benni has pitched in to help her father's old friend's daughter, Shawna,
turn the failing ranch her father left her into a viable "guest ranch,"
catering to the desires of "city folk" to experience the world of
Western cattle ranching first-hand. Shawna and her husband are
newlyweds, barely into their 20's, and if this venture doesn't succeed,
they'll lose the ranch that has been in the Darnell family for
generations. Benni is determined not to let that happen. She's helped
Shawna book the ranch with its first group of guests, a motley
assortment that includes several quilters there for a quilting seminar
and several boisterous "city folk" eager to strut around in brand new
Western gear. When a ranch dog comes trotting out of the woods show more up to
Benni carrying what turns out to be part of a human femur bone, Benni
and Shawna try their best to keep the guests' minds off the sheriff's
team of investigators digging up a decades old skeleton. But why did it
turn up now, this particular week, when so much hangs in the balance for
this raw new business venture? The answers aren't going to be easy to
find and Benni finds herself up to her neck in the investigation despite
her determination not to get involved.

Another well-plotted adventure. Benni and her family are so
well-written that I feel like I know these folks. The only complaint I
really have about these stories is that it always seems to be Benni who
stumbles across dead bodies. Just once, I'd like it to be her husband
or her grandmother. I can almost hear Dove's comments now. show less

This is the first of the Benni Harper Mysteries that I had read and, unfortunately, it will probably be the last. Although it had all the ingredients for a fine story - a mystery that is complex enough to be interesting and has a few twists thrown in; some romance, conflict and humour - I found that I just couldn't connect with the characters. Any of them. I wasn't invested in what was happening to them and was left feeling fairly indifferent as to how it would all work out for them. It took me a full week to read this 284 page paperback. (In contrast, I read the 326-page "Love Her To Death" (Linda Palmer) in less than 24 hours.)

This was a very satisfying blend of characters, plot, and setting in rural California on a guest ranch. The dialogue was well done and I appreciated the ambiguity of emotions expressed by the protagonist.

Well, I suppose it has to happen at least once in every series, but at least in this series, it took 10 books before I found one I didn't think was excellent. The plot was good, but I guess I just didn't like that Benni was without her usual cast of friends and family (they were there, but all much more in the background than usual). I didn't feel the empathy I'm sure the author was aiming for in the plight of the ranch owners, and I just didn't click with the story overall. It happens. But I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this series to anyone enjoying cozy mysteries.