Broken Dishes

Written by Earlene Fowler

Narrated by Johanna Parker

Benni Harper is the spunky and spirited star of Earlene Fowler's LA Times best-selling mystery series. Harper is helping out a friend on a dude ranch by teaching quilting classes and lending a hand wherever needed. Things are finally coming together, that is until a dead body and Harper's nemesis Detective Ford "Hud" Hudson show up. Harper has to keep the dude ranch running, keep the guests safe, and solve the case so she can get rid of old Hud before someone gets rid of her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781461810353

Reviews for Broken Dishes

[Holly Rolandson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The characters are great and the action combines with comedy throughout.

[smithfieldjones · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well done. My first adventure with Earlene Fowler and it was fun and well written. Plot will keep you turning pages particularly when you realize that Earlene Fowler avoids each and every cliches you think you see coming. Her characters, including the protagonist Benni Harper, are real people, some of whom you might would to know. Others remind you that you know someone just like that! After you have that thought when you meet Rita, Benni Harper reminds you that kindness and grace are more important than dismissing someone who just can't help it. Looking forward to the other 11 novels in the Benni Harper series.

[murderbydeath · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, I suppose it has to happen at least once in every series, but at least in this series, it took 10 books before I found one I didn't think was excellent. The plot was good, but I guess I just didn't like that Benni was without her usual cast of friends and family (they were there, but all much more in the background than usual). I didn't feel the empathy I'm sure the author was aiming for in the plight of the ranch owners, and I just didn't click with the story overall. It happens. But I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this series to anyone enjoying cozy mysteries.

[madamejeanie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Benni has pitched in to help her father's old friend's daughter, Shawna, turn the failing ranch her father left her into a viable "guest ranch," catering to the desires of "city folk" to experience the world of Western cattle ranching first-hand. Shawna and her husband are newlyweds, barely into their 20's, and if this venture doesn't succeed, they'll lose the ranch that has been in the Darnell family for generations. Benni is determined not to let that happen. She's helped Shawna book the ranch with its first group of guests, a motley assortment that includes several quilters there for a quilting seminar and several boisterous "city folk" eager to strut around in brand new Western gear. When a ranch dog comes trotting out of the woods up to Benni carrying what turns out to be part of a human femur bone, Benni and Shawna try their best to keep the guests' minds off the sheriff's team of investigators digging up a decades old skeleton. But why did it turn up now, this particular week, when so much hangs in the balance for this raw new business venture? The answers aren't going to be easy to find and Benni finds herself up to her neck in the investigation despite her determination not to get involved.Another well-plotted adventure. Benni and her family are so well-written that I feel like I know these folks. The only complaint I really have about these stories is that it always seems to be Benni who stumbles across dead bodies. Just once, I'd like it to be her husband or her grandmother. I can almost hear Dove's comments now.

[heatherlyn_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is the first of the Benni Harper Mysteries that I had read and, unfortunately, it will probably be the last. Although it had all the ingredients for a fine story - a mystery that is complex enough to be interesting and has a few twists thrown in; some romance, conflict and humour - I found that I just couldn't connect with the characters. Any of them. I wasn't invested in what was happening to them and was left feeling fairly indifferent as to how it would all work out for them. It took me a full week to read this 284 page paperback. (In contrast, I read the 326-page "Love Her To Death" (Linda Palmer) in less than 24 hours.)

[seasidereader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very satisfying blend of characters, plot, and setting in rural California on a guest ranch. The dialogue was well done and I appreciated the ambiguity of emotions expressed by the protagonist.