The Hydrogen Murder (Avalon Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: A retired physicist takes on the murderers in Revere, MA
Review: A unique contribution to the spate of books about female detectives by female authors. Minichino, herself a physicist, created Gloria Lamarino a retired physicist turned police consultant. All the elements are there for a "cozy." And they are shaped in a well plotted, three dimensional character study.

Rating:
Summary: A thinking person's mystery
Review: Thank you, Camille Minichio, for providing a protagonist who is a real person. Gloria Lamerino may be a fictional character but she seemed real to me. In addition to providing the reader with a compelling character to care about, the author gives us a plot that forces scientific insight and propels a lazy reader into becoming a thinking person. I am looking forward to more stories about this female detective!

Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Debut
Review: With the exceptions of Marcia Muller and Sue Grafton, I seldom enjoy mysteries with female sleuths. I will now have to add Camille Minichino to the list of "must read" novels with female sleuths. I am a chemist so I was interested because Minichino uses the periodic table to name her novels. Gloria Lamerino is a retired physicist who has returned to her hometown Revere, Massachusetts from California. The scientific insight she brings in the novel kept it going for me, and the puzzle and resolution were very impressive. The other characters, Rose, Frank, Peter, and Matt are very well drawn and I will look forward to them in her next mystery. In the last chapter, Gloria says that she's not looking for a "helium murder", but since I already have a copy, I know there is one, and I am really looking forward to reading it, as well as the other periodic table mysteries.