Customer Reviews

The Helium Murder: An Avalon Mystery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

After reading her debut novel, The Hydrogen Murder, I predicted that Dr. Camille Minichino would hone her craft and her follow-up would be an improvement. I was right. The Helium Murder, second in the series, is a fun read and a great story.

Minichino's sleuth, Dr. Gloria Lamerino is enjoying her retirement in Revere, a northern suburb of Boston, after thirty years of teaching physics in California. She's also enjoying the attentions of homicide detective Matt Gennaro, whom she helps by being a scientific consultant on cases. When a congresswoman is killed in a hit-and-run accident, Gloria's assistance is required since the victim carried an important vote in the House of Representatives that affected the future of the helium, industry and the preservation of the nation's quickly-depleting helium reserves. Gloria finds herself between a greedy businessman, a jilted fiancé and a bitter brother. With all that going on, she must deal with the ghost of her long-deceased overbearing mother and the thirty-year old mystery surrounding her own fiancé's death.

There is no shortage of colorful characters in Lamerino's Revere, Massachusetts. Minichino has a great knack for creating people that you think you know or wish you knew. Her bff Rose is constantly concerned about Gloria's perpetual unmarried status and the teacher whom she helps with special interest projects for his class, keeps asking her for a date. All are very endearing to the reader.

Minichino's writing style is refreshing and peppered with quips, snarky comments and enough literature and pop culture references that the mystery sometimes takes a back seat to the humor.

There are also occasions when Minichino sounds a bit like an encyclopedia when citing facts about the elements at the center of the mystery. But it is difficult to educate a reader on unexciting subjects without a data dump.

The Helium Murder is a great second outing for Dr. Gloria Lamerino. Fortunately, there are plenty of elements in the Periodic Table for fun like this.

Minichino's books are not your usual "cozy", and it only takes one to get addicted! Altho there is no gratuitous sex and violence, the author's works are definitely worldwise with a unique freshness not found in most current mysteries.