When Allen and I drove back to North Carolina to visit his baby sister last year and we dropped down into Mississippi for a chance to mark things off our bucket lists-Oxford and Jackson, Mississippi for me and Vicksburg Battleground for Allen-it killed me that there were so many other places we had to drive past and not visit. I have a few more planned over the next year. There's nothing like girlfriend vacations. There were thirty-eight quilts painted on barns, wineries, bbq restaurant, stores, Lake County Fairgrounds, even a ladder company! We found all of them but ONE! It was great fun. I recently went on a trip with a friend to Lake County, California, where we drove the quilt trail. Boo had an operation a few months ago when they found a large tumor hooked to his jugular vein.

I've also been reading a lot, traveling with friends, writing letters, doing crafts (still scrapbooking our 2005 Alaska cruise!), actually making healthy food for Allen and me. I've been cleaning and weeding through possessions (Why do I own twelve nail clippers? Because it was always the thing I forgot to pack when I was going on book tour every year). “The rich cast of secondary characters plenty of humor…enrich this thirteenth in the long-running series.So.howdy! Things have been quiet around my house these days. “Benni delves into the secrets of the town's elite with her usual flair, unraveling a plot that is as dangerous as the bulls on her father's ranch and as cozy as the quilts she reveres.”- Publishers Weekly Nevertheless, she’ll need to crack this exclusive circle of suspects, before one more gourmet goose gets cooked.

But with a famously reclusive artist about to put Benni’s quilting museum on the map-and her daunting mother-in-law soon to arrive-Benni’s holiday is already hectic. Reluctant at first, she profiles a few women whose social ambitions give them an obvious motive. When the latest socialite de-pledges in her sleep, Benni’s boss wants the mystery solved-and naturally, it’s landed on Benni’s to-do list.

The upper crust, female-only “49 Club” is restricted to exactly that many members, and one must die before another joins.

San Celina’s most exclusive society suddenly has an opening and Benni Harper has been tapped-not to join, but to investigate. In the new novel in the “breezy humorous” ( Chicago Sun-Times) series, Benni Harper is carrying a bundle of holiday stress-as she unwraps the secrets of an elite and possibly murderous society…

Tumbling blocks earlene fowler