Spider Web
(Benni Harper Mystery)
15th Book in Series
Publisher: Berkley (May 1, 2012)
A Berkley Prime Crime Mystery
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0425240983
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0425247990
E-Book File Size: 525 KB
ASIN: B004Q7DOVU
Folk art museum curator, rancher and sometime sleuth Benni Harper is back in an unforgettable new mystery, organizing a Memory Festival. But a sniper threatens to make it a day to remember in the worst way…
Benny has helped the Coffin Star Quilt Guild complete a quilt to display and raffle off at the very first Memory Festival. There will all kinds of booths to celebrate memories. In addition to the quilting booths there will be booths featuring scrapbooks, photographs, oral histories and written stories.
Before the festival even starts a local police officer is wounded by a sniper’s bullet. With all of the people coming to town for the festival Benni’s husband Gabe, the police chief, needs to bring in reinforcements to be sure everyone is safe. Gabe has suffered from PTSD in the past and this sniper’s actions have him suffering again with some terrible nightmares. Benni finds herself drawn into the case not just to make her hometown safe again but to help her husband come to grips with his personal demons.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
This story really made me think about all the family memories that can and have been lost. When my mother passed away a few years ago I really wished that I had taken more time labeling pictures and recording stories. This Memory Festival is a wonderful idea.
This series is based on quilting as you can see from the titles but what I like about Earlene Fowler’s stories is that they are more than mysteries. There is an undercurrent of faith that comes through. The way Benni deals with situations like Gabe’s Post Traumatic Stress, was very insightful.
There were also very funny parts where Dove and Garnet try to play matchmaker for Benni’s dad. Those two are always up to something.
The members of the Coffin Star Quilt Guild are some fantastic supporting characters and I really enjoyed learning about Miss Winnie and her adventure. There are just some war stories that are never told and should be. Though Fowler’s story is fiction there are a lot of facts throughout regarding both Winnie’s story and Gabe’s.
The sniper mystery itself was pretty straight forward and I had an inkling of the sniper’s identity pretty early into the story.
I look forward to each story in this series and the author always spins a fine story together. I can’t wait for the next Benni Harper Mystery.
Find out more about Earlene Fowler and her books on her webpage here.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
I think I’ll put this one on my t-b-r list. Thanks
Oh I love this series, I have lost track over the last couple of years. Sometimes this happens when they only come out once a year or so – hangs head. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and reminding me about Benni, have to look up the series and see what I have missed 🙂