Fool's Puzzle

When you are reading the first book in a series, you hope for the best. The best would be that you are interested enough in the character, her surroundings and situations to continue reading the rest of the books in the series. The worst would be that nothing touched the reader enough to bother looking up the next book in the series. I'm here to say that Earlene Fowler's Fool's Puzzle has brought out the best.

Benni Harper is a widow who has taken up the job of a director of a small town folk-art museum. The museum also rents out studio space to various artists. Benni happens to stumble upon one - a dead one - when she is supposed to be setting up for her first quilt exhibition. Was it a former boyfriend? A stranger? Blackmail? Benni keeps getting hints from the local police chief to leave it alone. But as she asks more questions, she keeps finding more clues about what happened the night her husband died.

Fowler sets up a series filled with an interesting location - a farming/cattle area in small town California, quirky characters - her best friend Elvia is a stitch, and a question of romance between the Hispanic police chief and Benni. She leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next to these folks. A good read.

The Lover's Knot

A Lover's Knot: A Someday Quilts Mystery is author Clare O'Donohue's first mystery. (And she knows something about quilting, having worked on the HGTV show Simply Quilts.) Nell Fitzgerald is recovering from a shock. Her fiance has just called off the wedding. She takes a break from the chaos her life has become by visiting her grandmother in upstate N.Y.

While she is resting, she becomes drawn into her grandmother Eleanor's world of the quilt store, good friends, and her quilting circle. And when Eleanor is injured, Nell takes over for her in the store. But when she finds the local flirt and handyman murdered in the store, her outsider status is useful for picking up clues.

The characters are well drawn and their community well written, it makes one want to travel and see this place for oneself. O'Donohue does a nice job with Nell's reawakening from heartbreak to being in a stronger space. And she does it realistically - time wise. The reader cheers her on.

A great first book for a series. Hope there is another.