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
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
