Customer Reviews

Mourning In Miniature (Miniature Mysteries)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Geraldine Porter and her granddaughter, Madison, go to San Francisco to accompany Rosie Norman, an old student of Gerry's, to her thirtieth high school reunion. Gerry is looking forward to seeing some of her old students. David Bridges, star athlete, is who Rosie is looking forward to seeing. He's been sending her gifts and she's expecting a romantic reunion.

When David is murdered and Rosie is a suspect, Gerry sets out, with a little help from Madison, to solve the murder and take suspicion off Rosie.

I like this series a lot. All the miniatures she creates sound really interesting. I wish there were pictures of them. I like the way she started using Madison's computer skills more in this one. I also enjoyed the descriptions of San Francisco since I was there once and recognized some of them.

Having a murder set around a reunion was great, too. There are always old jealousies that can be capitalized on. This is a great series and a quick cozy mystery to read. I highly recommend it and the full series.

Margaret Grace returns to to her miniaturist novels with the most complex plot in this series to date. While I personally would love to see her return to her Camille Minichino personna with a new periodic table mystery, I'll have to be satisfied with this series. Maybe it is just because I recently returned from a high school reunion, but I could relate to the characters. They seemed like classmates I had known. The author sprinkled "red herrings" throughout and kept me guessing as to the murderer's identity until the end. The post-resolution wrap-up seemed a bit slow, but there were a lot of ends to be tied up. While complex, I enjoyed as much as the smell of Ghiradelli chocolate. (You'll have to read the book to understand this reference.)

Margaret Grace's MOURNING IN MINIATURE tells of Rosie, who asks Gerry to accompany her to her thirtieth high school reunion, only to find a miniature mystery when star athlete David is murdered and clues point to further danger. A fine pick for lending libraries strong in murder mysteries.

Usually I look forward to this well-done series about miniaturist Gerry Porter and her granddaughter as they solve mysteries together. Unfortunately, this entry was not up to the author's previously high standards. I had to force myself to finish the book, not a good sign. The plot just wasn't engaging or credible and the characters were not likable, including Gerry. She was very annoying this time around, almost bullying people, and Maddy, her granddaughter, had a very limited role, so the interaction between grandmother and granddaughter, normally a plus, was absent. The main problem I had was with Rosie, the main suspect. It was hard to believe that after 30 years she was still pining away for her high school heartthrob, someone she really didn't even have a relationship with back then. Rosie, a successful business owner, acted like a teenager, and this really took away from the plot's credibility. The other books in this series are well done, but this one can be missed.