The Helium Murder: An Avalon Mystery [Hardcover]

Camille Minichino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1998

This is the second book in the Periodic Table Mystery Series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this lighthearted and lightweight second novel by Minichino (The Hydrogen Murder, 1997), finding a murderer seems almost a game. Gloria Lamerino, a retired Berkeley physicist, has returned to Revere, Mass., where she is a science consultant to the police department. Her services are requested after Congresswoman Margaret Hurley is murdered by a hit-and-run driver. Hurley was a member of the House Science and Technology Committee, and Congress was in the midst of debating whether or not to sell the nation's reserve of helium. While Gloria receives some unwanted amorous attention from an old friend, she casts a yearning eye on police sergeant Matt Gennero and isn't at all upset about the prospect that her work will bring her closer to him. Speculating on the alibis and motives of a motley cast of suspects, Gloria detects links between this murder and the death of her fianc? 30 years ago. Her knowledge of chemistry helps her understand the meaning of the last word Hurley uttered and ultimately leads her to the murdererAand nearly to her own deathAin the mortuary basement. If the murder motive turns out to be lighter than helium, Gloria's self-deprecating humor and clear-eyed understanding of her own and others' motives make her an engaging sleuth.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

After 30 years in California, physicist Gloria Lamorino has returned to Revere, MA, where she works part-time as a consultant to local police. After reading about the hit-and-run death of a youthful congresswoman crucial to deciding the future of the nation's helium surplus, Gloria cannot wait to investigate. Sergeant Gennaro, her boss as well as her incipient love interest, strives to keep her out of trouble but doesn't always succeed, as with her sudden interest in the "accidental" death of her fianc? some 30 years earlier. A tidy mix of romance, intrigue, science, and mystery.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Avalon (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803492987
• ISBN-13: 978-0803492981
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scientists will recognize themselves in this lively mystery, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Helium Murder: An Avalon Mystery (Hardcover)

As a physicist who loves mysteries, I enjoyed this 2nd Minichino story tied to the Periodic Table for several reasons: first, its credible science core embedded in industrial and political intrigue; second, for the real-life portrayal of scientists, police detectives and assorted friends of Gloria Lamerino, a retired Physics Professor recycled into a sharp amateur detective; and finally for the wonderful local color of Revere, as an ethnic suburb of Boston reinventing itself, but remembered with nostalgia by a native daughter of the 50's. There are many enjoyable and educational nuggets of science (both Physics and Chemistry) and mini-bios of Italian-American scientists embedded in this mystery. As a woman physicist, I had many "Aha!" experiences in this second book, as in the first Minichino Hydrogen murder mystery. Best of all, I identified with its feminist outlook, although in Minichino's Equal Opportunity mysteries, women can not only use knowledge and logic to detect and reason, but also to murder...I highly recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning: This murder series is addictive, July 15, 2000

By 

Patricia Lavins - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Helium Murder: An Avalon Mystery (Hardcover)

If you like politics, science and a well-plotted mystery, then you are in for a treat in this second of a series. Intelligent and appealing heroine, Gloria Lamerino, continues to evolve in this novel that makes one glad that there are so many possibilities in the periodic tables. The series expands one's knowledge of scientific in an almost seamless fashion. Science's loss with the retirement of the physicist/author is fiction writing's gain. Be careful, once you read one in the series, you will want to read more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but an error in plot detail that keeps bugging me, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Helium Murder: An Avalon Mystery (Hardcover)

I have enjoyed both 'The Hydrogen Murder' and 'The Helium Murder', and intend to order 'The Lithium Murder'. These books are a refreshing change from many other mystery novels coming out today. They are light and entertaining, and focus more on characters and science, rather than forensic details and gratuitous violence and vulgar language. However, there is one detail in this book that keeps annoying me. I wonder if the author has been back to Massachusetts much in the last 30 years. Because it's probably been that long since cars in MA had front license plates. In the first chapter, there is a description of a car heading towards someone and they see the front plate. Later, there is a scene where the heroine walks down the street looking at front license plates. MA used to issue two plates, but when they did, the sequencing of letters and numbers was very different than it is today. When a series relies as heavily on local atmosphere as this one does, details like this can really affect credibility. That said, I would still definitely recommend these books to other mystery lovers.