Earlene Fowler grew up in La Puente, California, the child of a southern mother and a western father. She writes the Benni Harper cozy mystery series, set in the fictional town of San Celina, California (very similar in description to San Luis Obispo, California), where she is the curator of a folk-art museum that includes an extensive collection of quilts. Each of the books in this series draws its title from a traditional quilt block pattern, and I have just finished reading Goose in the Pond, the fourth book in this twelve-book series.
In this novel, a 1997 nominee for the Agatha Award for Best Novel, Benni and her museum have organized a Storytelling Festival in conjunction with an exhibition by the museum of a display of story quilts designed and stitched by area quilters. She takes on the added task of finding a murderer, however, despite the objections of her newly wed husband, Chief of Police Gabe Ortiz, when she discovers the body of one of her storytellers in a small local lake. Another constant in Benni's life is her grandmother, Dove, who moved from Arkansas to San Celina when Benni was a six-year-old child who had just lost her mother. Dove moved in with her son, Benni's father, and took over. She has been running everyone's life since then, the true beneficent despot. Benni adores her but also knows when to avoid her. For the duration of this book, Dove has taken up temporary residence with Benni and Gabe because of the arrival from Arkansas of Dove's sister Garnet. Benni must work extra hard to steer clear of the current duel between Dove and Garnet, in which the weapons of choice are Bible verses. Further complicating Benni's life and her efforts to solve the murder mystery is the arrival of Gabe's barely grown son Sam and Benni's party hearty cousin Rita. In the end, however, Benni conquers all.
My family, like many other north Arkansas families, had a number of younger members who moved to different parts of California during the dust bowl days. The family and friends that Earlene Fowler has created for Benni could easily be family and friends of many of my California cousins. Their feuds, their family jokes, their traditions, and most of all, their totally forgiving love for each other are all family characteristics with which I can identify, and which probably a good many Arkansawyers can, also.
A number of Ms. Fowler's books can be found at the Faulkner County Library. You can find more information about Earlene Fowler and her books at her official website:
or on her page at the Fantastic Fiction site:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/earlene-fowler/
Until next time, happy rummaging.
