Goose in the Pond (Benni Harper Mystery)
Benni Harper finds a local storyteller's body in the lake in the fourth mystery of this series. Benni has recently married the handsome Latino police chief; the murder comes just before a storytelling festival she has organized. Further complications include the arrival of assorted, unmatched relatives who stay for dinner and beyond; tensions between rabid environmentalists and locals; and the emotional bumps and whorls of Benni's second marriage. The dialogue is often engaging, and the local California color more so, but the plot is full--perhaps overfull--of hot buttons. There are the storytelling and quilting references (each of Fowler's books has a quilt pattern as its title) as well as plotlines that include a homeless person, lost computer files, unbiquitous coffeehouses, spouse abuse, an unfavorable comparison to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the local library, and a reference librarian. The most fully realized characters are two minor but crucial ones: Benni's redoubtable grandmother, Dove, and her newly met stepson, Sam. Pleasant enough.GraceAnne DeCandido--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.