Publisher's Weekly 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. Agent, Ellen Geiger. (May 3) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
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 2005 Booklist
Kirkus Review
It's lucky that curator/quilter Benni Harper knows so many folks in San Celina, Calif., because her neighbors simply cannot stop killing each other. The director of the children's musical Pilgrim's Progress--The Joyful Journey has been called to attend her pregnant daughter in Kentucky, and Benni's gramma Dove has graciously volunteered to replace her and volunteered Benni as her assistant. So Benni's curatorial duties at the local folk art museum are supplemented by rehearsals with a group of kids from the San Celina First Baptist Church--and one, Maisie Ford, who isn't a member of the congregation but the daughter of mopey Detective Hud Hudson. The most troublesome child in Benni's life, however, is Luis Ortiz, brother of her police chief husband Gabe. Instead of acting like a grown-up, Luis turns up uninvited on Gabe's doorstep, drinks too much, makes frequent rude remarks and turns out to be a three-time loser in the matrimonial stakes. Because Benni can't live by domestic intrigue alone, there's also a murder (the elderly handyman at First Baptist) and a grand theft (a Native American-built violin from the Mission period). But even though she's the police chief's wife--a position that once again lands her in the soup--Benni continues to work more effectively as an inspirational neighbor than as a detective. Withal, Fowler (Sunshine and Shadow, 2003, etc.) continues to wrestle with the question of why bad crimes happen to good people. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
In the next installment of the best-selling series, Benni Harper takes over a church's children's play, and trouble follows when the church handyman is found beaten by the altar...with a small girl as the only witness. Agatha Award-winning Fowler lives in Southern California. Author tour planned. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
