The Beryllium Murder (Gloria Lamerino Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Camille Minichino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2000 | Series: Gloria Lamerino Mysteries

Sporting brains, hips, and a sense of adventure, fifty-six-year-old Gloria Lamerino single-handedly proved her mettle as a shrewd physicist-sleuth in The Lithium Murder, and she's about to do it again.

Gloria suspects something is amiss when she learns that Gary Larkin has died of beryllium poisoning in his Berkeley, California, physics laboratory. The police deem his death a tragic accident, but Gloria, who has worked with Gary before, knows better. She heads out to the West Coast, determined to uncover the truth. In the process, she finds herself enmeshed in the search for a missing teenager. Internet pornography, beryllium disease, jealous coworkers, nasty divorce proceedings, and an illegitimate child. All are pieces of the puzzle, and it isn't long before Gloria discovers that her two parallel investigations are linked in ways even she never expected. The Beryllium Murder transports us to the scenic Berkeley hills--and to a self-contained world where hard science and sudden death meet.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mystery novel series seem to have a special appeal for authors and readers alike. Fans can recite the alphabet (Sue Grafton's A Is for Alibi, B Is for Burglar) or chant a children's rhyme (Janet Evanovich's One for the Money, Two for the Dough)--and these days, courtesy of Camille Minichino, they can work their way through the periodic table of elements: The Hydrogen Murder, The Helium Murder, The Lithium Murder.

Minichino, a retired Berkeley physicist, is up to element number four in The Beryllium Murder, which finds her shrewd physicist-sleuth, Gloria Lamerino, drawn back to the Bay Area. Gloria suspects that Gary Larkin's death by beryllium poisoning at Berkeley University Laboratory is not, as the police have decreed, a tragic accident. What better way to justify a trip to see old friends and colleagues? But when she arrives, her friend Elaine begs her to look into the disappearance of a missing teenager; as Gloria digs deeper into Manuel Martinez's mysterious absence, she finds a peculiar connection between the high school student and the dead physicist. It appears that Manuel has been profiting from certain scientists' computerized indiscretions by indulging in a spot of "hackmail." Subatomic particles aren't the only things that behave peculiarly in Gloria's world; her fellow physicists seem to have a lot to hide.

The mechanics of the mystery aren't particularly riveting, but readers will forgive Minichino her tendency to supply Gloria with clues on a silver platter (the Berkeley police seem unusually willing to share evidence with a private citizen). Clad in comfortable knit pants ("Only fifteen more [pounds to lose] and I'd be down to the upper limit for 'medium-frame males' on the insurance charts. Never mind that at five-three, I was actually a small-frame female") and sporting one of her myriad collection of lapel pins, Gloria is a refreshing mix of stubbornness and insecurity, and readers will cheer her deductions no matter how they may arrive. The climax of the novel finds her skittering gingerly across a toxic waste dump; in between chuckles, you'll probably find yourself trying eagerly to remember just what comes after beryllium, and rejoicing that Minichino has at least 111 elements left to work with. --Kelly Flynn

From Publishers Weekly

Of all the nomenclatural devices mystery authors have devised to gain recognition, none may be more ambitious or obscure than Minichino's use of the periodic table. This is the fourth in the author's series of elemental mysteries (following Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium). Fortunately, here, as before, knowledge of science is not a prerequisite to enjoying the sleuthing of Gloria Lamerino, 56, a retired physicist who's found a new, and much more dangerous, career as an amateur sleuth and sometime assistant to the Revere, Mass., police when they are confronted by a case that needs scientific input. The suspicious death of former colleague Gary Larkin is enough to prompt Lamerino to visit old friends in Berkeley, Calif., where the local cops are definitely not welcoming. She is soon fully involved in tracking the events leading to Larkin's death by beryllium poisoning, as well as to the disappearance of the teenage son of her girlfriend's beau. Minichino nicely picks her way through the difficulties of creating a scientific grounding for her mystery without off-putting technical jargon. That, plus Lamerino's blend of courage, reasoning and perseverance, and a well-constructed plot, make for another attractive mystery in an impressive series. Agent, Elaine Koster. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688172075
• ISBN-13: 978-0688172077
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,104,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This mystery is absorbing and entertaining, March 5, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Beryllium Murder (Gloria Lamerino Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Physicist Gloria Lamerino retired from the BUL lab of California's Berkley University and moved to Revere, Massachusetts. Since living in New England, the fifty-six year old retiree has embarked on a second career as an amateur sleuth. When she learns that a former BUL associate, the ultra cautious Gary Larkin died from an overdose of the toxic beryllium, Gloria wonders what really happened.

While pondering the Larkin case, Gloria becomes involved with the disappearance of Manuel Martinez, a teenager who wrote a research paper on beryllium. Gloria begins to make inquires and quickly learns that the father of Manuel's girlfriend worked in the same lab as Gary. When Manuel is found as an obvious homicide victim, Gloria realizes that a link exists between the two investigations, but remains unknown. Knowing the cost could be her life, the fearless physicist continues to search for the truth.

THE BERYLLIUM MURDER is an electrifying tale that combines elements from a police procedural and an amateur sleuth into a stimulating academic mystery. The maturity of the physicist adds to her overall credibility. Her use of her scientific knowledge to augment the official investigation makes Gloria seem like a paid member of the police force. The myriad of viable suspects enhances the story line so elemental, my dear Watson that readers will demand more academic mysteries from Camille Minichino.

Harriet Klausner

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back to the preceding future, May 2, 2000

By 

Robert A. Olson "Opera Nut" (Jupiter FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Beryllium Murder (Gloria Lamerino Mysteries) (Hardcover)

There's good news and bad news in Camiile Minichino's latest installment in the burgeoning mystery solving career of Gloria Lamarino. The bad news is that Gloria is returning to California for her latest murder, a setting covered by author after author, rather than once again revisiting her "home town" of Revere, Massachusetts. (How many authors have made that a setting?) The good news is that in this novel, she displays a new skill for creating "red herrings" and an ability to keep the reader guessing "whodunnit" until the very end. The plot is her most convoluted yet -- and the resoluion very satisfying. Especially with the final "broad hints" that Minichino will again return to Revere for her next -- Boron -- murder. A good read, and I recommend it.

4.0 out of 5 stars A great concept and good characters, February 7, 2012

By 

Thinkella Blackadder - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Beryllium Murder (Worldwide Library Mysteries) (Paperback)

The heroine is a different type. I like the use of the periodic table for these books. It is a great format. There aren't enough chemists bringing their view into other areas. There aren't many chemists/novelists. This series gives a fresh perspective and takes up interesting topics. I enjoy this series.