Dove in the Window (Benni Harper Series #5)

Kirkus Reviews

A fifth go-around for Benni Harper (Goose in the Pond, 1997, not reviewed, etc.), the ranch-bred widow of Jack Harper, whoþs now married to San Celica, California, Police Chief Gabe Ortiz. San Celica is having a Heritage Days celebration, and Benni, as curator of the Folk Arts Museum and Artists Co-op, is in the thick of it. Her elegant southern cousin Emory Littleton (with a mega-crush on Benniþs best friend Elvia Aragon) is staying with her, and at her fatherþs ranch, presided over by Grandmother Dove, a huge family gathering is in progress. Disaster strikes when talented young photographer Shelby Johnson is found dead one early morningþmurder or accident? Ranch-hand Kip Waterman and hard-drinking Wade Harper, brother of Benniþs late husband, had come to blows over Shelby the night before. Matters worsen when, days latter, Kipþs drowned body is discovered behind the Frio Saloon. Through it all, Benni has to calm her artist friends Olivia Contreras and Greer Shannon, deal with a zillion chores, and cope with the unexpected presence of renowned photographer Isaac Lyons, Shelbyþs stepgrandfather, who seems smitten with Grandma Dove. In the end, itþs Benniþs investigative collaboration with Isaac (over Gabeþs strong objections) that brings a killer to a kind of justice. The quest for whodunit is all but buried under Benniþs breezy down-home chatter, sometimes mawkish soul-searching, and descriptions of the celebrationþs endless eventsþfrom the local galleryþs show of women artists to the Cow-Plop contest. But Benniþs warmly likable persona makes it all worthwhileþespecially for lovers of thecozy genre.