Dove in the Window (Benni Harper Series #5)

Benni and her relatives and friends are gathered for the family's annual barbecue and cattle roundup. Among the guests is Shelby Johnson, a young photography student from a wealthy Chicago family. In Benni she finds a favorite subject and a new friend. But when the young woman's body is discovered on the ranch the next morning, Benni's closest relatives suddenly develop into prime murder suspects...

Benni Harper, the spirited ex-cowgirl, quilter, and folk-art expert, has an eye for murderous designs--and a talent for piecing together the most complex and cold-blooded crimes

Benni and her relatives and friends are gathered for the family's annual barbecue and cattle roundup. Among the guests is Shelby Johnson, a young photography student from a wealthy Chicago family. In Benni she finds a favorite subject and a new friend. But when the young woman's body is discovered on the ranch the next morning, Benni's closest relatives suddenly develop into prime murder suspects...

* Fifth in the popular Benni Harper mystery series

* Each book features a different quilt pattern

* Fowler is a three-time Agatha Award nominee

"Earlene Fowler writes from the heart, and her BenniHarper is a true original."--Susan Rogers Cooper

"Bright, fresh--and endearing."--Carolyn G. Hart

"Shimmers with life and love... warmly endearing."-- The Poisoned Pen

"Fowler writes beautifully..."-- Booklist

Kirkus Reviews

A fifth go-around for Benni Harper (Goose in the Pond, 1997, not reviewed, etc.), the ranch-bred widow of Jack Harper, whoþs now married to San Celica, California, Police Chief Gabe Ortiz. San Celica is having a Heritage Days celebration, and Benni, as curator of the Folk Arts Museum and Artists Co-op, is in the thick of it. Her elegant southern cousin Emory Littleton (with a mega-crush on Benniþs best friend Elvia Aragon) is staying with her, and at her fatherþs ranch, presided over by Grandmother Dove, a huge family gathering is in progress. Disaster strikes when talented young photographer Shelby Johnson is found dead one early morningþmurder or accident? Ranch-hand Kip Waterman and hard-drinking Wade Harper, brother of Benniþs late husband, had come to blows over Shelby the night before. Matters worsen when, days latter, Kipþs drowned body is discovered behind the Frio Saloon. Through it all, Benni has to calm her artist friends Olivia Contreras and Greer Shannon, deal with a zillion chores, and cope with the unexpected presence of renowned photographer Isaac Lyons, Shelbyþs stepgrandfather, who seems smitten with Grandma Dove. In the end, itþs Benniþs investigative collaboration with Isaac (over Gabeþs strong objections) that brings a killer to a kind of justice. The quest for whodunit is all but buried under Benniþs breezy down-home chatter, sometimes mawkish soul-searching, and descriptions of the celebrationþs endless eventsþfrom the local galleryþs show of women artists to the Cow-Plop contest. But Benniþs warmly likable persona makes it all worthwhileþespecially for lovers of thecozy genre.

Earlene Fowler was raised in La Puente, California, and now lives in Southern California with her husband.