GERALDINE PORTER, a recently retired high school English teacher in a small northern California town, has more time now to spend on her lifelong hobby — building dollhouses and miniature scenes.
You'd think the world of tiny country cottages and cozy room boxes would be trouble-free. Not so for Geraldine and MADDIE, her 10-year-old granddaughter, visiting Lincoln Point for the summer. Even before the doors open to the crafts fair that Geraldine has organized, there's a snag in the program. Geraldine's friend and fellow crafter, LINDA, has failed to appear at her post. Also missing is the last piece of furniture Linda painstakingly built, a miniature Governor Winthrop slant-top desk.
By the time the week is over, Geraldine and Maddie have dealt with robbery, fraud, and murder, all wrapped up in the world of the very small.
MAYHEM IN MINIATURE
In the second book in the series, we find GERRY and MADDIE busy with room boxes for the Mary Todd Lincoln ball. When one of Gerry's students in a senior crafts class is accused of murder, Gerry and Maddie are drawn into the investigation. Besides Gerry's family, the cast of characters includes residents of a retirement home—all a lot smarter than most people give them credit for.