Steps to the Altar
by Earlene Fowler, 320 pages
Berkley Publishing Group

I like novels – particularly mysteries – that give me more bang for my buck. Oh, I want a good "who done it," but I also want characters I can like and root for, and if the book also opens up a new interest for me, so much the better.

A case in point is the Benni Harper series by Earlene Fowler. There are nine books (so far) in the series; Steps to the Altar is the most recent. The others are:

• Fool's Puzzle
• Irish Chain
• Kansas Troubles
• Goose in the Pond
• Dove in the Window
• Mariner's Compass
• Seven Sisters
• Arkansas Traveler

If those titles sound a little odd, it's because each one is taken from the name of a quilting pattern. Not interested in quilting? Neither was I until I discovered Ms. Fowler's work, which is delightful. Ms. Fowler doesn't overwhelm you with quilting lore; she just tosses it in so that your interest is perked and you find yourself dropping into quilting stores and watching the Antiques Roadshow.

Each book is a stand-alone mystery and a cracking good one. But each also advances the lives of the main characters, which include Benni Harper, who runs a folk art museum; Gabe Ortiz, her husband, who's police chief in San Celina, where most of the stories take place; her grandmother, Dove; her best friend, Elvia; and her fifth-cousin, Emory, who is engaged to Elvia. These people learn and grow in each book and throughout the series.

In Steps to the Altar, Benni is coping with two weddings (Elvia's and Dove's); the local Mardi Gras festival; and the arrival in town of one of her husband's former LAPD partners, a gorgeous blonde who clearly has more than reminiscences on her mind. Benni doesn't need a murder mystery, particular one more than 50 years old, but that's what the local historical society dumps on her in the form of papers that belonged to Maple Bennett Sullivan. Maple vanished many years earlier after having murdered her husband – or so the story goes. Benni is talked into reviewing the papers and becomes convinced that Maple is innocent. Her investigations aren't welcomed by some San Celina residents, leading to complications.

Earlene Fowler writes with grace and wit. Her characters are beautifully drawn and very likeable. And her plots are intricate, but believable. If you like a good mystery that gives more than just clues and violence, run – do not walk – to your nearest bookstore.

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Laura W. Haywood is a graduate of Finch College. Her career includes representing newspapers for national advertising when she was the only woman repping papers in New York at the time. Stints in public relations and development followed at Jacksonville and Princeton Universities as well as one in public relations for a major corporation. Laura's fiction and poetry has won a number of prizes and has appeared in The New York Times ("Metropolitan Diary"), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Galaxy, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and a number of other magazines and anthologies. She edited or co-edited (with Isaac Asimov) two science fiction and one mystery anthology. Laura is the author of the recently published novel "The Honor of the Ken."

Laura can be reached by email: lwhaywood@aol.com