The ex-cowgirl, quilter, and resident sleuth of San Celina, California, is back?navigating her way through a stormy sea of puzzling clues to a home she never knew existed?Jacob Chandler knew everything about Benni Harper, and in his house were pieces of her life: a scrapbook of newspaper clippings that covered her life and work. When Jacob Chandler died, he left his home in Morro Bay and all its contents to Benni?the only stipulation being that she had to stay in the housefor two weeks, alone, before the inheritance became hers.But Benni Harper has never even heard of Jacob Chandler. To discover whether he is her guardian angel or personal demon, she must follow the scavenger-hunt clues he has set up for her throughout his home. The waters are rough and the direction unclear as she finds herself setting a course to a time and place in her own past?a place Benni Harper and Jacob Chandler both knew as home? Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

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 weeksÄalone. 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. (May) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

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 Cahners Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Earlene Fowler was raised in La Puente, California. She wrote literary and commercial short fiction for ten years without publishing success when she decided to write a mystery novel. Her first novel, Fool's Puzzle, was published in 1994. Her other works include Kansas Troubles, Seven Sisters, Arkansas Traveler, Broken Dishes, Delectable Mountains, and The Saddlemaker's Wife. She won the Agatha Award for Mariner's Compass in 1999.

(Bowker Author Biography) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.