Maple Bishop #2
The second book in the Maple Bishop series, Murder in Miniature, finds Maple at a bit of a crossroads. Though she has started to find her place in her small town, with a thriving dollhouse business, new friends, and a new position with the local law enforcement, she isn’t quite settled. When she came out here, it was with her husband, to support his career. Maple grew up a city girl in Boston, and worked hard to earn a legal degree, something she hasn’t been able to make use of in small town Vermont. Even with all the good things going on in her life, does she truly belong?
To make matters more complicated, one of her friends, Ben, may be becoming something more. Maple isn’t ready to deal with that though, so she mostly just doesn’t. In fact, when they are together watching her new television (which she kind of hates), she is relieved to get a call from the sheriff that he needs her at a crime scene. That relief is short lived – one of Kenny’s friends has died in what likely isn’t an accidental fire.
Kenny, the sheriff’s deputy, and Maple became close on their first case. It hurts her to see him so distraught, and she wonders at once if he’s up for this particular investigation. He won’t be deterred, however, and the two soon plunge into the case together. Maple soon starts making miniatures of the crime scene, her specialty, to see exactly how this fire started.
Maple is a great character, and it’s simply fun to watch her interact with the world. Though many of the small town cast don’t get as much time on page as they did in the first book, it’s still lovely to see them again. As half of the story is spent in Boston, Maple’s hometown, she gets to meet a few new characters and tie up a few loose ends. One of them, the detective they work alongside, is charming and I hope to see him in future books.
Overall, fans of the first one will enjoy this one too. This is, hopefully, just the start of a long series. Reading about Maple just makes the reader want to watch her recover, grow, and change. And, perhaps, become just a little more settled in her new smalltown life. — Margaret Agnew