Book Review: Mayhem in Miniature by Margaret Grace (Miniature Mysteries #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Gerry and her family; good twiting plot

Cons: Uneven pacing

The Bottom Line:

Fans of crafting and

Cozies will enjoy this book

Strong characters, plot

Missing Granny and Dead Gardeners Create Big Problems

Because I like cozy mysteries, I read some pretty random series.  Take this one, for example.  I have no interest in miniatures (in fact, I wouldn't have the patience or creativity for it), yet I just finished Mayhem in Miniature, the second in the Miniature Mysteries.

The series takes place in Lincoln Point, California, a town that takes its Lincoln theme seriously.  For example, the main streets are named after places where President Lincoln lived.  They hold a ball around Mary Todd Lincoln's birthday in December.  And the premier rest home in the city is also named after the former first lady.

Our main character is Geraldine "Gerry" Porter, a widow and retired English teacher.  She is also a rabid miniaturist and hosts a crafting group, helps organize sales, and teaches the craft at the Mary Todd Home one day a week.

As this book opens, it's a few weeks before Christmas, and the only things on Gerry's mind are pleasant things like the upcoming Mary Todd ball and her granddaughter's visit.  But all that changes one morning with a phone call from a friend.  Dolores is in a panic because her grandmother, Sofia, has vanished from the retirement home.  Since Sofia is a member of Gerry's crafting class, she immediately agrees to help find Sofia.

But things take a turn for a worse when Sofia is found covered in blood over the corps of the nursing home's gardener.  While dazed, Sofia claims she is innocent.  Can Gerry clear Sofia of the crime?

For non-crafters like me, the good news is that miniatures play a small part in the story.  In fact, if you got rid of that particular hobby hook, you'd still be able to tell the story.  There are several scenes that revolve around it, but not enough to turn off this non-crafter.

What did interest me was the mystery.  It started slowly.  (Of course, that might be partially me because I had a hard time finding time to read).  Once the dead body turns up, things definitely picked up.  There were several nice twists and red herrings that kept me guessing until the end.  Unfortunately, the end committed one of my biggest pet peeves.  Gerry had all the pieces she needed to solve the crime, and she knew she did.  She just couldn't quite figure out how they went together.  And yet the only reason we had a climax was because the killer confronts her.  That made the ending much weaker than it needed to be.

On the other hand, I continue to love the characters.  Gerry is a determined woman.  I saw too much of myself in her desire to see things through to the end even though it wasn't her job.  My favorite characters are her 10-year-old granddaughter Maddie and her nephew (and police detective) Skip.  There is just something about them that is immensely likable without being sickly sweet.  In the first book, Gerry's friend Linda drove me up a wall.  Here, she was still difficult, but I could see why it was that Gerry loves her enough to put up with her.  The suspect characters are strong enough to make us suspect them, but they could have been a little more developed.

The writing has improved this time around.  It read just as well as the first one, but here Gerry doesn't feel the need to explain everything to us in the first person narration.  The amount of time she spends agonizing over leaving Maddie with various people while she investigates does get monotonous, however.

Mayhem in Miniature hasn't ironed out all the problems with the series.  But I keep coming back to the characters.  I am interested enough in their lives that I have a feeling I will be back for book three.