Dove in the Window

Acquired via BookCrossing 05 Dec 2008 - BC Birmingham Secret Santa from Fritzi

I've been waiting to read the rest of the series so I could have a go with this one. I'm on a spiral which finally brought me the one before it! The great thing about these Benni Harper mysteries, as I've said before, is that there is a lot more going on in the books than just murder and mystery. Benni, her family, her husband Gabe and her friends are well fleshed out and interesting in their own right. Benni and Gabe's marriage continues to deepen and grow, and you don't get the feeling that emotional events are just there to drive the murder mystery plot. But there is of course a good plot here, and closer to home for Benni as a promising young photographer show more is found dead on the family ranch. Rivalries between the artists in the co-op are running high with some bemoaning the fact that only the young and beautiful seem to get attention. And one rough diamond cowboy would be even more of a top suspect without Benni's covert support. show less

It's the week of Thanksgiving and time for both the Heritage Days
Celebration at San Celinas and the annual huge family gathering at her
father's ranch, so Benni Harper has her hands more than full trying to
keep everything running smoothly. Her debonair Southern cousin, Emory
Littleton, has chosen this as the perfect time to come to collect on a
favor he did Benni while helping her solve her last case, and he's
expecting to go out on a date with Benni's best friend Elvia, a Latina
firebrand with no intentions of ever being alone with Emory. And it
doesn't help matters any that her former brother-in-law, Wade Harper,
has showed up, drinking hard and looking for a fight. Things take a
turn for the worse when the body of young Western show more photographer Shelby
Johnson is found early the next morning on a hill at the ranch. There
are over 200 people camped out all over the place, but all indicators
point directly at either Wade, or ranch hand, Kip Waterman. Benni knows
Wade's hard to take sometimes, but she also knows he's not a killer,
though it seems she's pretty much alone in that opinion, especially
after Kip's body is found behind a local saloon only hours after he and
Wade were seen fighting in the parking lot. Shelby's grandfather, world
famous photographer Isaac Lyons, has arrived to find Shelby's killer,
and he joins forces with Benni (over the protestations of Benni's
husband Gabe Ortiz, San Celinas Chief of Police) to track down the
murderer, while he also ruffles her feathers by courting Benni's
grandmother, Dove.

I'm liking Benni more and more with each book. The relationships
between the main characters are evolving and ripening like fresh fruit.
Benni is such a warm and likable person and that's one of the main
criteria for me when I'm reading a continuing series. The author is
able to write each of the characters with such distinctive voices that
it's a real pleasure to read these books. They just keep getting better. 4+ show less

The more I read this series, the more I really like it. I found some of the elements in the story to be predictable, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this book. I genuinely enjoy watching the character development and I look forward to seeing what will happen with Elvia's love life from here. Now I just have to wait for Mariner's compass to arrive! :)