{"id":722,"date":"2015-07-01T07:05:45","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T14:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/?p=722"},"modified":"2015-07-05T18:46:09","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T01:46:09","slug":"manhattan-in-miniature-by-margaret-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/?p=722","title":{"rendered":"Manhattan in Miniature by Margaret Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve already talked about when I first discovered the miniature mystery books<\/a> written by Camille Minichino, under the pen name of Margaret Grace. Last year I actually had the \"\"<\/a>\"\"
\nopportunity to meet Camille at a miniature show in San Jose. I liked her immediately and not just because she’s a real published author. One look at Camille’s website<\/a> will show you all she’s accomplished in life. I want to be just like her when I grow up.<\/p>\n

A few months ago Camille offered me a copy of her latest miniature mystery novel, Manhattan\u00a0in Miniature<\/a><\/em>*. Normally I don’t like to read ahead in a series but I couldn’t resist so I took Camille up on the offer. I’m glad I did.\u00a0 Even though it sounded like a lot has gone on in Gerry’s life (spoiler alert: she’s engaged!) I was able to pick right up and enjoy a fun mystery set in The Big Apple at Christmas time.<\/p>\n

The book starts, as they all do, with a witty play on miniatures. Gerry is refrigerator shopping and can\u2019t decide which one she wants. In the end she decides to \u201cbuy them all\u201d causing a newbie to think \u201cwait\u2026what?\u201d We regulars get the little joke of course. Sure enough in the next paragraphs it is revealed that Gerry is at SuperKrafts stocking up on supplies for her hobby of building miniature room boxes.<\/p>\n

Right there at SuperKrafts the premise of the book is set. We meet the store manager, Bebe (well I did at least, based on the banter between the characters Bebe has been introduced in previous books that I haven\u2019t read yet) who invites Gerry to attend a big craft show in New York City. SuperKrafts will pay for the trip and guess what? Even Maddie (Gerry\u2019s granddaughter) can go! Cozy excitement for the plotline has been set and the fact that its weeks before Christmas makes it even better.<\/p>\n

But wait, you\u2019re asking, what about the murder? I\u2019ll admit that the thought of Gerry and Maddie solving a murder mystery in New York City scared me a little. Luckily the murder storyline was more annoying than dangerous. Gerry calls her friend Cynthia with the good news of her visit and learns that Cynthia\u2019s 90 year old Aunt Elsie has died in her Manhattan apartment. Cynthia is convinced her aunt was murdered and she wants Gerry to solve the crime.<\/p>\n

By the way, when I say the murder storyline in this book was annoying I mean that in a good way. I think Camille wanted the reader to be annoyed by Cynthia\u2019s character and let me tell you, she nailed it! I consider a book to be very well written if it can invoke emotion in the reader. One page into the scene where we meet Cynthia \u201cin person\u201d and I was ready to slug her.<\/p>\n

As per usual there is plenty for Maddie to do as well. She provides her super sleuth computer skills to help her grandmother and also helps the hotel security department with their own little mystery. Maddie also acts as the conduit for the one bit of tension and suspense we do get at the end of the story.<\/p>\n

In addition to the criminally fun storylines, the book also makes for a good New York City travel guide. Gerry and Henry\u2019s engagement is also noted throughout the book, although Henry spends a lot time out of the picture having scheduled a trip to Hawaii while Gerry is in New York. Now that I\u2019ve broken my rule of reading ahead in the series I\u2019m anxious to get back on schedule and see exactly how this engagement and find out first hand how great a guy he is.<\/p>\n

If you are looking for a fun, cozy mystery with the excitement of New York City go out and get yourself a copy of Miniature in Manhattan<\/em>. I give it a Classic Mrs. B.<\/p>\n

\"Mrs.<\/a><\/p>\n

*Disclosure:\u00a0 This review is my own honest opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve already talked about when I first discovered the miniature mystery books written by Camille Minichino, under the pen name of Margaret Grace. Last year I actually had the opportunity to meet Camille at a miniature show in San Jose. I liked her immediately and not just because she’s a real published author. One look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,39,40],"class_list":["post-722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-camille-minichino","tag-margaret-grace","tag-miniature-mysteries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":724,"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions\/724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ladyjessop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}