Well, either it's a murder mystery or discourse on small-town dynamics, or it's a social commentary on life in the late 1990's in small-town Arkansas. Or all three. And I could have handled a murder mystery in a small southern town, or a murder mystery with racially-charged dynamics, but Fowler seems to have worked to put all three themes into one book and it just got bogged down.

The "Arkansas Traveler" title refers to this quilting pattern and it applies to the life and travels of the main character, Benni Harper. She has returned to Sugartree, Arkansas, after growing up in California with summers spent in Sugartree. The racial dynamics of black/white residents of this small Southern town are stoked by an attempt at joining the two Baptist churches, one black, one white, and a black woman running for mayor against the white man who has had the job for many years.

Add to this simmering cauldron the arrival of Benni's new husband, a former LA detective of Hispanic descent, and Benni's best friend, Elvia, who is a Hispanic first generation immigrant and there is ample room for racial dynamics and controversy. And there is plenty of it in the events of this book and knowing that it was written in the late '90's makes the events of police racial profiling even more relevant.

The fact that it is a murder mystery, and the lack of more active quilting themes throughout the book other than a mention on the back jacket of the pattern, diminished this book from a good, cozy murder mystery to a strange amalgamation. Maybe Fowler's desire to discuss racial problems in the South is a good one, and maybe this was her medium to do so, but sadly there was such a lack of focus that I was not drawn in or engaged in this mystery. ( )

Enjoyable following Benni on her mission to help her friends. ( )

I usually don't like "travel" books within a series because I get so attached to the regular cast of characters and the normal setting, but lately I've been finding a few where the author does a really good job of it. Earlene Fowler does a fantastic job (it helps that she brings the biggest characters along with Benni). The story was a great one and touched on a topic that is seldom brought up in present day plots: modern day de-segregation. I think she handles it well. This book is also the most Christian themed of the books so far, but as the plot has to do with the combining of two segregated churches, it isn't out of place. I really liked the ending, and there was at least one laugh-out-loud moment in this book for me. Took me completely by surprise. :) ( )

Benni Harper & her husband Gabe Ortiz head back to Benni's hometown of Sugartree, Arkansas where the mayor's son ends up dead. The police arrest the son of the mayor's political rival who just happens to be black on nothing more than circumstantial evidence. Heavy on conversation. Light on mystery. Predictable outcome. ( )

Benni Harper has accompanied her grandmother, Dove, and the rest of the
family back to Sugartree, Arkansas for a church Homecoming. The trip
has the added benefit of allowing Benni's best friend, Elvia Aragon, to
meet her cousin Emory Littleton's father before Elvia and Emory's
relationship goes any further. Sugartree's two Baptist congregations
are faced with the necessity of merging into one church, but that's
going to be a lot easier said than done, because the undercurrent of
racism runs deep in Sugartree, and those two congregations are
completely segregated. But when the mayor's racist skinhead son is
found bludgeoned to death just hours after crashing a racially mixed
party, it makes it even more difficult to somehow blend these two
churches together into one cohesive whole.

I really do like this series, and this episode, set in the area a bit
north of Little Rock, felt very familiar to me. I was born in the
Missouri bootheel and these could very easily be members of my own
family and the church I grew up in. Fowler write's with a down-home
quality that isn't just an affectation or a show. These books feel like
going home to me. It would be hard for me to pick a favorite in this
series, but this particular one is going to be pretty hard to beat. ( )