Did you ever just have one of those days where everything that can go wrong does? Well, I’m having one of those weeks. The week started off well enough; my two best friends, Jade and Chloe, came over, and we made popcorn with chocolate chips to sit out on my sundeck and watch the new guy move in across the street. Now, in most neighborhoods, that might seem a little odd, but not in Mini-Meadows, a community of tiny homes in Central Florida, especially when that new neighbor is Tanner Reed.

I guess I should preface this story with the fact that I’m what’s known as a downsize specialist. I left my father’s mansion, when he decided to marry me off to a nice enough guy that I had no real interest in, and moved into a tiny home made from two shipping containers stacked atop one another and started my own business. Now, I help customers downsize from their former dwellings and move into smaller homes. Tanner Reed called me to his home for a free consultation, three times, before finally deciding he could downsize from his ranch to a four-hundred square foot tiny home on his own. It only took one look at the moving truck for me to know he was going to be in trouble.

While I always enjoy watching new residents react to their new way of life, trying to figure out which of them are going to love it and which won’t last more than a month, I never enjoy seeing someone upset, which Tanner clearly seemed to be as he stood on his postage stamp lawn scratching his head and looking from the oversized moving truck to his new tiny home. That being the case, I did the neighborly thing and left my popcorn with Jade and Chloe and went over to offer my help.

Unfortunately, while I was there, my grandmother, at least. . .I think it was my grandmother, but the new teeny bopper version, showed up in a brand new, shiny red Corvette and announced she was moving in. With me. Into my tiny home that’s barely big enough for me and my cat, Ginger. Okay, bad enough, but I love Granny Rose, despite the fact that all she wants to do is feed me, so I figure we can manage.

But then I find my most difficult customer neatly wrapped and labeled and very much deceased in the back of his moving truck, and things go downhill fast. Especially when Granny Rose shows up with her new dog, a Great Dane that’s practically as big as my living room.

No Small Murder, A Mini-Meadow Mystery Book #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: February 2023
Purchase Link

Mini Meadows, a Tiny Home community in rural Central Florida, is home to Emma Wells, a downsize specialist who left her daddy’s mansion and her inheritance behind in favor of a simpler, more peaceful life in a tiny home that was once two shipping containers. But when she opens a shipping container and discovers her dead client sitting in a rocking chair, neatly wrapped and labeled, and two of her friends end up on the suspect list, Emma pitches in to help find the killer. With plenty of clues to unpack, Emma narrows down the suspect list, but as she begins to close in on the culprit, she realizes if she’s not careful she could end up in a box of her own.

About the author
Lena Gregory is the author of the Bay Island Psychic Mysteries, which take place on a small island between the north and south forks of Long Island, New York, the All-Day Breakfast Café Mysteries, which are set on the outskirts of Florida’s Ocala National Forest, and the Mini-Meadows Mysteries, which take place in a community of tiny homes in Central Florida.

Lena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, but she recently traded in cold, damp, gray winters for the warmth and sunshine of central Florida, where she now lives with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Her hobbies include spending time with family, reading, and walking. Her love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night. She works full time as a writer and a freelance editor and is a member of Sisters in Crime.

All comments are welcomed.