Welcome to the 7th annual A to Z Blog Challenge in April!
Come back daily for more exciting posts and even some giveaways!
Today is M for Mini Mysteries
Today I welcome author Camille Minichino, who also writes the fun miniatures mystery series under the name Margaret Grace.
Wow, it's hard to believe she's written eight books in the series, the latest being Manhattan in Miniature.
Number nine - Matrimony in Miniature - will be published in September. - you can pre-order it now. (Can't wait to read it!!)
* See all the books at her website or her Amazon page. ** See contest at the end of this post! **
Number nine - Matrimony in Miniature - will be published in September. - you can pre-order it now. (Can't wait to read it!!)
* See all the books at her website or her Amazon page. ** See contest at the end of this post! **
M is for Mini
By Camille Minichino
What's in a name? Could mine have predisposed me to a
life-long miniatures hobby and a string of mystery novels about a miniaturist?
It makes as much sense as anything.
I don't remember how long it took me to learn to spell my
name—in my day, kids entered first grade with virtually a clean slate. We were
lucky to be able to count to 10 (on our fingers) and know the way to the corner
store. There were no public kindergartens, let alone pre-schools,
pre-pre-schools, and so on. Our mothers didn't read to us, explain the world to
us constantly, or teach us anything but to be seen and not heard. At least,
that's how it was in my neighborhood.
So it might have taken a couple of grades for me to master
CAMILLE MINICHINO, the 16 letters that make up my name.
Meanwhile, I played with the one "toy" I had,
which was a dollhouse my father built for me. Along with my favorite cousin, I
turned everything into minis. We cut up old greeting cards and
"framed" a bird or a flower or a bicycle to decorate the walls of my mini
house. We sliced pieces of straw from a broom and made spaghetti. We covered
sponges with scraps of fabric and made beds and easy chairs.
We had a whole life in miniature.
I kept that hobby through my adult years. At one time or
other, nearly everyone I know has received a miniature "something." A
small sewing scene for my quilt-making friend, a tiny cluttered dorm room for one
stepdaughter, a miniature stable for another. In my home I have a post office,
a 6-level museum, and a funeral parlor, all in miniature. Photos on request!
To give my hobby even wider distribution, I created
Geraldine Porter and her granddaughter, Maddie (there's that M again) and set
them free to make minis and solve murders in a slew of mysteries—nine novels
and one short story so far. That meant I had to come up enough M's for the
titles: Murder, Mayhem, Malice, Mourning,
Monster, Mix-up, Madness, Majesty, and Manhattan
are out in paper and e-book formats. Matrimony
in Miniature will be released in September 2016.
Anyone have an M for the next one?
BIO: Camille Minichino is a retired physicist
turned writer. When her first book, Nuclear
Waste Management Abstracts, was not a bestseller, she turned to mystery
fiction. She writes four series under four names, publishing more than 20
novels and many articles and short stories.
Christine is the only chance I have of appearing on a Zombie site. No wonder I love her!
ReplyDeletehaaa! I think maybe you should have zombies in your next minis mystery for Halloween... it could work, you know... ;)
DeleteI remember having a miniature China tea set. Also had a dollhouse with the miniature furniture and people. I enjoy going to the Field Museum in Chicago to see Colleen Moore's famous dollhouse. Would love to read the books about miniatures
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
I remember having a miniature China tea set. Also had a dollhouse with the miniature furniture and people. I enjoy going to the Field Museum in Chicago to see Colleen Moore's famous dollhouse. Would love to read the books about miniatures
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
I remember having a miniature China tea set. Also had a dollhouse with the miniature furniture and people. I enjoy going to the Field Museum in Chicago to see Colleen Moore's famous dollhouse. Would love to read the books about miniatures
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
Although I have many wonderful miniatures, my favourite is one made by my first granddaughter when she was only 3 (she's now 24). She found a rock, and glued one eye on it, then cut her hair and glued that on. Her mother was furious that she had snipped her hair. She cried out, 'but it's a miniature for Granny and she's always got her eye out for me'. This was made from the heart, so it's my favourite.
ReplyDeleteWhat I love in Camille's Margaret Grace series is the love that shines through between Geraldine and her granddaughter, Maddie. I think if Maddie had made a special rock for Geraldine, Geraldine would have understood and treasured it also.
Jonesy
I had the 50's metal miniature house and loved it. I do remember playing with it for hours. Love the miniature series.
ReplyDeletenlb1050@yahoo.com
Nancy