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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved getting into Gabe's head -- knowing his thoughts and feelings. Dove keeps plenty of humor in the book. And Hud is back -- reason enough to love the book!
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Summary: Yet another great story of Benni and Gabe
Review: I truly loved this book... I think it is her best yet!
Rating:
Summary: More than 5 stars
Review: If I could rate this latest from Earlene Fowler with more than 5 stars I would. I was so busy hoping for Bennie to find Maple, hoping for Gabe to clear his fog, hoping for Hud to be a good guy, hoping for Del to "git along little doggie," and for the bridal showers and weddings to come off without a hitch, that I hated to see this saga in Bennie's life come to a close. But not really! I totally enjoyed this book and am anxious for the next.
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Summary: "A Different Kind of Mystery"
Review: In "Steps to the Altar," Earlene Fowler gives Benni Harper a different kind of mystery to solve-one that happened decades ago. While Benni tries to solve that intriguing puzzle, she is faced with a personal crisis when a person from husband Gabe's past reappears. How these two stories are interwoven and resolved, as Benni prepares for the weddings of her grandmother and her best friend, makes for great reading. Can hardly wait for the next installment.
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Summary: The only bad thing about this book
Review: is that I have already finished it. I loved it and couldn't stop reading it.
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Summary: The Mysteries Of Love And Marriage
Review: Love and marriage are the threads that stitch together the various stories in Earlene Fowler's most recent Benni Harper [quilt] novel, Steps To The Altar. The main mystery involves the unsolved murder of a prominent citizen of San Celina [Fowler's fictionalized version of San Luis Obispo, CA] in the 1940's and Benni Harper's attempts to solve the murder 50 years later [the locals think the wife and her lover did the deed]. This plays out against the backdrop of the ongoing lives of our favorite citizens of San Celina. Story blocks in this well-sewn quilt of a novel include the marriage of Emory and Elvia [Benni's nth cousin and best male friend and Benni's best girl friend], the marriage of Dove and Isaac [Benni's Grandmother and her photographer boyfriend], and the possible breakup of Benni and Gabe Ortiz's two year marriage when an old partner and lover of Gabe's shows up in San Celina. Included at the edges of this quilt are bits and pieces of San Celina's annual Mardi Gras celebration. This is a wonderful novel [as are the others in this series] and I recommend it highly. This goes for male readers as well as for female readers [I admit that I read the first Benni Harper Mystery, Fool's Puzzle, when I was screening novels for my grandmother (Grandma didn't like mysteries with lots of nasty language in them since she'd end up blipping over those sections), but I fell in love with them myself and have continued to read them long after Grandma died]. I bought three copies of the book: one for myself, one for the library at the high school where I teach, and one for a favorite [quilting] colleague of mine [all signed by Ms. Fowler, who is one of the nicest, most sincere people on the planet Earth]. My Mom loves 'em, too! So get a copy, wrap yourself up in your favorite quilt, and enjoy.
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Summary: BENNI DOES IT AGAIN!
Review: Oops. I meant, Earlene Fowler does it again. It's just that Benni Harper seems so real, just like the cowgirl next door...It's February, 1995, and thirty-six-year-old Benni Harper is at it again. Like many super women of the '90s, she finds herself juggling more than husband, job, family and friends. This time around she's dealing with weddings (note the plural), an old, unsolved mystery, the unwanted attentions of a sheriff's deputy, plus Gabe's former partner who makes no secret of wanting him back in her life. If you enjoy a well written story, a lead character with old-fashioned guts and heart, and yearn for more than a simple who-dun-it crime novel, read Agatha-Award winning novelist Earlene Fowler's best book yet, Steps to the Altar. A lot happens in the likeable little town of San Celina, California, and Benni Harper always manages to end up with her boots in it. After Steps to the Altar, buy Fool's Puzzle (nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel of 1994) et al., and read the entire series in order from the beginning. That way it won't seem so long before her next book comes out and you'll learn that Emory and Benni are 11 and 12, respectively, in 1970 and Benni turns 37 in March of 1995. :) Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Steps to the Altar
Review: STEPS TO THE ALTAR: Ninth in the Agatha Award-winning series, this book finds a California folk art expert Benni Harper preparing for two upcoming weddings, digging up clues to a decades-old unsolved murder - and struggling with a very personal crisis of heart.
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Summary: enjoyable Benni Harper tale
Review: The central coastal California town of San Celina is home to chief of police Gabe Ortiz and his wife Benni Harper. Although Gabe was once an undercover narcotics officer in the big city, receiving an adrenaline high from collaring a drug dealer, he is content now to work in this quiet college and retirement village. However, whenever a homicide does occur, it seems that Benni is in the middle of it, much to Gate's consternation.
Homicide is the farthest thing from Benni's mind now. Her best friend is about to marry her cousin (two people she cherishes) and her grandmother is getting married after forty years of being a widow. Benni is all caught up in wedding preparations when Gabe's ex-lover comes to town determined to win him back. To get her mind off her heartache, Benni becomes involved in another homicide investigation, one that is fifty years old.
It's interesting to see Benni solve a case that is over a half a century old using old newspaper reports and historical documents. Although STEPS TO AN ALTAR is billed as a mystery, it is as much a romance with Benni having an admirer who finally comes out of the closet. Told in the first person from Gabe and Benni's point of view, readers are able to feel close to both protagonists and understand their feelings and actions. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best in the series...
Review: The last couple of Benni Harper books have been disappointing to me and I previously loved this series and could not wait for more! I guess that I don't care for the way that the Benni Harper series is starting to become something other than "a mystery series which revolves around quilts and quilting."
I do agree with the reviewer from Illinois that the series is getting a bit sloppy (and soppy). I know that one must suspend reality when reading mysteries, but I think that Gabe and Benni need to get on with their lives here! I enjoyed them working together (well, sort of) in the first few books but now it just seems like problem after problem in the marriage. I also agree with the reviewer from Illinois that the chapter from Gabe's point of view was not really necessary. I am hoping for better in the next book...a more consistant timeline about how old Benni is, a more traditional mystery, and less of Ms. Fowler's delving into the religious aspects. Yes, there is a place for religious aspects in literature, but I hope that Ms. Fowler will bring Benni back to the way she was in those first six ( wonderful) books in the series. (Ms. Fowler is quite talented and well able to start a new series with a religious theme if she wishes to do so...and it probably would be well received.)
*If you are a new reader, read this series in order and see if you agree.*
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