Publisher's Weekly Review
If your image of quilters is that of old ladies whiling away the hours in rocking chairs or at looms, then perhaps you've not met Benni Harper, the frisky director of the Josiah Sinclair Folk Art museum in San Celina, Calif. In her eighth winning outing (after 2000's Seven Sisters), Benni returns to her hometown of Sugartree, Ark., accompanied by her friend Elvia, and finds relatives and friends embroiled in racial, religious and romantic rivalries that turn their reunion into disunion. Sugartree, population 5,000, has its share of bigots, hidden and overt, and two events have already stirred them up. Benni's friend Amen Tolliver, a black woman, is running for mayor against wealthy white incumbent Grady Hunter. And Sugartree's two Baptist churches, one black, one white, are discussing a merger that has deeply divided both congregations. Being Hispanic, both Elvia and Benni's husband, Gabe Ortiz, attract unwelcome attention after Gabe's arrival, threatening the blooming romance between Elvia and Benni's cousin Emory. When the ugliness leads to murder, Amen's election chances are jeopardized and an innocent young man is arrested. However, there are also plenty of decent people in Sugartree and a lot of great food, memories and humor. Benni needs all her vaunted spunk to solve a killing that threatens to scar the town she loves, as Fowler delivers cozy entertainment without resorting to unrealistically syrupy solutions. (Apr. 10) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Benni Harper (Seven Sisters, 2000, etc.) has come a long way from Blevins County, Arkansas, where she spent much of her youth eating cheese grits and raising hell with her cousin Emory Littleton and best friend Amen Tolliver in the poky little town of Sugartree. Now a museum curator married to sexy police chief Gabriel Ortiz, of San Celina, California, sophisticated Benni, back for a family reunion, can snicker along with her chic amiga Elvia Aragonwhos engaged to Emory and whos come with Benni to meet her familyat the pig-snout headgear on the Razorback fans who gather for breakfast at the local Waffle House. Grown-up Benni can shake her head in wonder as her ever-competitive Grandma Dove and Aunt Garnet end up making duplicate breakfasts for the family. Broadminded Benni can sympathize as the members of Sugartree Baptist Church consider shoring up their dwindling congregation through a merger with predominantly black church. But activist Benni cant ignore the slights and slurs aimed at dark-skinned folk, including her beloved Gabe, Elvia, and Amen, by some of Sugartrees townsfolkloudest among them Toby Hunter, son of mayor Grady Hunter, whom Amen has the audacity to challenge in the current election. So when Toby is bludgeoned to death and Amens nephew Quinton is arrested, what choice does Benni have but to ignore her husbands warning and search for Tobys killer? Not so much an Arkansas Traveler as a Log Cabin quilt marked by endless repetition: Racism bad, Benni clever, you cant go home again.