Sat 11 Sep 2010
EARLENE FOWLER —
â— Fool’s Puzzle. Berkley Prime Crime, hardcover, May 1994; reprint paperback, January 1995.
â— Tumbling Blocks. Berkley Prime Crime, hardcover, May 2007; reprint paperback, May 2008.
Benni Harper’s husband was killed in a car accident some months before the opening of Fool’s Puzzle, the first in this now long-running series, and she’s moved on, serving as curator of a folk-art museum in the town of San Celina, but with an extended family of relations and friends close at hand. The title, like that of all the other titles in the series, refers to a quilting pattern.
The murder of a potter, who’s been working late at a kiln in the museum, catapults Benni into an unaccustomed role of private investigator, which brings her into conflict with the new sheriff, Gabriel Ortiz, and confirms her character as confrontational and hell bent on putting herself in harm’s way and withholding evidence from the police.
But then, this seems to be the pattern for strong female protagonists (and what female protagonist isn’t strong?), so you can’t expect anything terribly fresh or ground-breaking in the concept of the central character.
What makes the series work is the very adept characterization of a fairly large cast, and the sense of grounding in a diverse, changing community as San Celina, formerly largely a ranch and farming community, develops into a more up-scale town, with the museum, ably directed by Benni, at the center of an influx of touristy galleries, restaurants and shops.
In the thirteenth book in the series, Tumbling Blocks, the museum has landed a prize acquisition, the donation of a painting by a nationally known folk artist, with a presentation gala that’s attracting some major attention from outside the area, and an appearance by the reclusive artist’s great-niece, who is a tireless supporter of his work.
As if Benni doesn’t have enough to do with overseeing the event, she’s coerced by Constance Sinclair, the museum’s major benefactor, into investigating what appears to be the death by natural causes of Constance’s long-time friend “Pinky” Edmondson, but which Constance believes to be a murder.
The investigation by Benni takes back seat for much of the book but when it comes to the forefront makes up for its earlier reticent place in the plot by heating up rapidly and dangerously for Benni.
I don’t know that I’m going to be a tireless pursuer of the other titles, but I enjoyed both of these early and late examples of Fowler’s work.
Bibliographic Note: Number fourteen in the series, State Fair, was published earlier this year. For a complete list and cover images of all fourteen, visit the Fantastic Fiction website page here.
September 11th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
I won’t have purchased STATE FAIR yet, as it hasn’t come out in paperback, but I have the first thirteen. Unlike Walter, I have not read any, but now that I’ve read his comments, I think that’s a fact that ought to change.
I have to confess that if you’d asked me an hour ago, I’d have said these books took place in Kansas. Quilting to me seems like a rural or Midwest hobby, and what’s more rural and Midwest than Kansas?
Thanks, Walter. I learned something!
September 12th, 2010 at 8:13 am
My grandmother was a quilter (and I ought to know because my father and I hung the equipment on the ceiling in her living room so she could watch television while working)and even in the bad old days before the internet had an international community she exchanged patterns and tips with — some as far away as Sweden, and one oil man’s wife in Iran.
Though to be fair I tend to associate it with the Mid-west too. Though I’d have thought that (pardon the pun) New England would have been a hot bed of quilters too considering the winters.
These sound a bit too cozy for me, but I might dip my toes in based on this and see. You never know until you try. Anyone that can get fourteen books out of the curator of a small town art museum deserves some respect.