Earlene Fowler

What an incredibly solid and engaging cozy mystery! I picked it up because it uses the setting of Morro Bay, a California central coast town I knew well as I was growing up as it was a quick getaway from where I was raised in the Central Valley. I ended up relating to the book throughout, as it was not only clear that the author knew the area well, but the very make-up of Californians.

This is the 6th book in the series but I jumped in with ease. Benni Harper works in folk art and knows a lot of people around her (fictional) town of San Celina, but she's baffled when she inherits a house and a lot of money from a total stranger in nearby Morro Bay. His will stipulates that she must stay in the house for two weeks to inherit the estate--which doesn't please her police chief husband one bit. Benni soon finds creepy details, like a wood-carved statue of her childhood horse, a favorite old jacket of hers that vanished years ago, and clues that guide her to different people and places around the coast. At the same time, her new neighbors--who thought they'd inherit--are a threatening presence. Benni needs to solve the mystery of Jacob Chandler before something bad happens.

This book came out in 1999, and I loved that aspect. CD-ROMS are mentioned, and Benni has a newfangled cellular phone that she can use just-in-case but usually uses landlines instead. The characters are fantastic, well-drawn with sensitive portrayals. The mystery kept me guessing all the way through. I hope to read more in the series.… (mer)

Where to start with why I didn't like this book. Let's start with the fact that I was invested in the characters from the beginning. I cared about what happened to them and after the last book I felt confident that things would work out as the author led this reader to believe.

Then she yanked the rug out from under me. I don't like authors to set up relationships only to start jerking them around. Call me dull, but I like a certain ... not predictability, but continuity. So nothing was going to end up the way she led me to believe at the end of the first book. Certain heartbreak - most undeserved - was on the cards for a major character, when suddenly the author introduces, if not an outright deus ex machina, then one hell of a coincidence, and happiness ever after is magically guaranteed for everyone. Even I had a hard time swallowing this one.

The Road to Cardinal Valley focuses on Ruby's dysfunctional mess of a younger brother, an alcoholic with hepatitis who has no desire to sober up. What follows is just enough codependency to thoroughly irritate me. I could care less about Ruby's brother by about mid-way, but in another stretch-too-far, it all works out in the end with an act of redemption that coincidentally solves everyone's problems.

Earlene Fowler writes a top-notch mystery that I'd happily recommend to anyone who likes traditional mysteries with strong, heartfelt characters. But she was definitely trying something new here and, for me at least, it just didn't work.… (mer)

I love Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper mystery series, but shied away from this book for years because it sounded sappy. It wasn't sappy, but I still didn't like it much. Even though I knew from reading the acknowledgments in her Benni Harper books that she is a vocal Christian (not in a bad way - just an active credit to her faith front and center in each book - I did not know this one and its follow up would have a concentration of faith and Christianity as part of its storyline.

It wasn't too heavy handed, and the author made sure the characters were non-judgemental and weren't too picky what the 'higher power' was called, but it still wasn't my jam. It's not that I'm an atheist; I'm not. But I am cynical; the more you talk about it, the more apt I am to to think you're trying too hard.

So, I wasn't inclined to enjoy the story, although I did, like all the author's other books, become invested in the characters and this is what kept me reading. A lot of characters were American Indian, which added a more realistic roundness to the community of Cardinal Valley. And the story's 'mystery' was pretty damn shocking. Mostly because I wasn't expecting this to be a story that went in that direction, but also because Fowler's other work avoided the decidedly less functional dynamics that happen when people have too much power and influence. Everything about this story was tragic.

In retrospect, I probably liked this book more than my rating suggests. I read the second one before I wrote this and I'm pretty sure it coloured my feelings about this book. The story here was compelling and the book ended on a hopeful note. Unfortunately, it ends with unresolved issues, making the second book necessary if closure for the reader is a priority and well... I didn't like the second book.… (mer)