Guest Post by Camille Minichino

Hello all - Kate from the Maternal Instincts Mystery series is hard at working solving a new crime (the cover for NURSING A GRUDGE will be "unveiled" next month) in the meantime, I wanted you to meet some dear friends of mine. And as always - you can visit me at www.dianaorgain.com

From Sophie in the Professor Sophie Knowles series and Gerry in the Miniature Mysteries series:

When Gerry Met Sophie

The scene: a deli, fairly crowded. We're focusing on two women chatting over sandwiches and soft drinks.

Since they have a common friend, Gerry Porter and Sophie Knowles have decided to have lunch together. They've chosen a neutral spot, a deli called Food for Characters, with neither dollhouses nor equations in the décor.

"We'd probably never be friends if it weren't for Margaret Grace," Gerry says.

"You mean Ada Madison," Sophie replies.

"I doubt we have anything in common besides our creator," Gerry says. Even seated, it's clear that Gerry towers over the five-foot-three Sophie. "You teach math in college. I nearly flunked math in high school. I just don't have a head for it."

"Are you kidding? Look at all the measuring and scaling up and down you have to do for your miniatures," Sophie says. "I wish I had your artistic talent. I'm trying to learn to bead better than a fifth-grader. I can't even make a pretty bracelet for my boyfriend's niece. Your eleven-year-old granddaughter does better."

"Maddie is special. But you're the ingenious one," Gerry says. "Anyone who can make sense out of equations is creative in my book."

"If you're so nonmathematical, how come you ordered PI?" Sophie asks.

"And you ordered a MINI quiche," Gerry points out.

Both ladies laugh so loudly, heads turn.

At the next table two women scan their menus, eavesdropping on Gerry and Sophie, who continue to joke and laugh like schoolgirls.

One of women addresses the waiter, pointing to Gerry and Sophie. "I'll have what they're having."

Camille Minichino, a retired physicist turned writer, has published 14 mysteries in three series. Her next books are "The Probability of Murder" as Ada Madison (March 6, 2012), "Mix-up in Miniature" by Margaret Grace (April 2, 2012), and "The Hydrogen Murder" by Camille Minichino, reissued on Kindle now: http://www.minichino.com