From Publishers Weekly
A bizarre inheritance, a dangerous quest and a political battle are the main events of Benni Harper's captivating sixth adventure (after Dove in the Window). Benni's work at the San Celina Folk Art Museum is interrupted when she unexpectedly inherits the estate of a stranger named Jacob Chandler. His house in Morro Bay is worth $200,000, but Chandler's will stipulates that Benni can keep the windfall only if she lives in the house for two weeksAalone. As expected, her protective husband, police chief Gabe, is none too happy about this development. But Benni is unwilling to turn down the money, and more important, her curiosity is piqued. After all, why would someone she'd never met make her his sole heir, especially when it turns out that many others were expecting to benefit from his death? To find the answer, Benni embarks on a dangerous search for Chandler's motives, following a series of cryptic notes that he's left for her all over California. Meanwhile, Gabe has his hands full keeping peace between San Celina's mayor and Benni's formidable Gramma Dove, who leads a sit-in at the Historical Museum to thwart the mayor's plan to convert it into a restaurant. As Benni's inquiries lead to unsettling information about her mother, who died when Benni was six, Fowler captures her plucky heroine's secret anxieties, but offsets them with a good dose of humor. Benni's need to know the truth about her family imbues the novel with alluring intimacy and suspense. And Chandler's penchant for wood carving provokes engaging descriptions of that craft, which accompany Fowler's usual bits on quilting and food. Chandler's puzzles test Benni's relationships with her husband, father and grandmother in this excellent addition to a notable series. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In order to inherit a house from a man she never met, series protagonist Benni Harper (Dove in the Window, Prime Crime: Berkley, 1998) must spend two weeks alone in it. There, the folk art museum curator and sleuth follows mysterious clues her benefactor left behind. For series fans. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Ex-cowgirl and California Central Coast resident Benni Harper has inherited the house of Jacob Chandler, a man she never met. Chandler's will requires Benni to live in the house for two weeks and to solve a mystery. Meanwhile, her grandma Dove and six friends barricade themselves into the Historical Society to thwart a development-oriented mayor, and Benni is pursued by a mysterious assailant. In this sixth Benni Harper novel, Fowler continues to deepen her characters--eccentric and sympathetic Californians and transplanted southerners--and her plotting appears tighter and better organized. There are some surprising and funny moments here, and Fowler's skill in developing a mystery in an interesting community will appeal to fans of Rett McPherson's Veiled Antiquity and Leslie Meier's Valentine Murder [both BKL Je 1 & 15 98]. John Rowen


From Literary Times
Albenia (Benni) Harper is a curator of the Joseph Sinclair Folk Art Museum and Artist Co-op in San Celina California. She married her second husband, a Police Chief named Gabe, just fifteen months ago. When she meets with her friend, who is also a lawyer, she is surprised with the news that a man named Jacob Chandler has left her a house and all his possessions - as long as she agrees to reside in the house for two weeks. Otherwise, the inheritance will revert to the government. What really surprises her about this turn of events is that she has no idea whom Jacob Chandler is. When Benni goes to the house, she finds out that she has also inherited a dog named Scout. This is one of the less disturbing finds. Benni starts to get spooked when she finds a carved horse with the name of her first horse on it and an old jacket that she thought she had lost. Benni starts to investigate who this Jacob Chandler, was using his friends and acquaintances, and finds herself on a strange scavenger hunt. She also has to deal with some antagonism from the people that feel they should have been the recipients of this windfall, a protective husband, a grandmother who has taken the local historical society hostage and the mystery of why this stranger knew so much about her. Benni's two weeks are full of suspense, fear, and confusion and in the end, a surprise she just wasn't expecting. This mystery is a true page-turner (please excuse the cliché). Benni and her family are a treat to read about and the suspense over Jacob Chandler drives the story at a very quick pace. The plot was very well developed, both the story and the character motivations and roles seemed real and even more importantly plausible. Earlene Fowler has written a great mystery. I found myself admiring the mind that came up with this premise and executed it so well. I was really pleased to see that she has written other books and I plan to search them out. An unique story with an intriguing mystery. Earlene Fowler is a name that should show up on every mystery lover's bookshelf. Mariner's Compass is a great why-done-it. Michelle Sawyer -- Copyright © 030199 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jacob Chandler knew everything about Benni Harper, and in his house were pieces of her life: a hand-carved statue of her childhood horse and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings that covered her work, her marriages, and the death of her first husband. And when Jacob Chandler died, he left his home in Morro Bay and all its contents to Benni - the only stipulation being that Benni had to stay in the house, alone, for two weeks before the inheritance became hers. But Benni Harper has never even heard of Jacob Chandler. Now she has two weeks to follow his scavenger-hunt set of clues to discover whether he is her guardian angel or personal demon. The waters are rough and the direction unclear as she finds herself setting a course to a time and a place in her own past - a place Benni Harper and Jacob Chandler both knew as home...

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal