The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 18 May 2016
by Camille Minichino
Carbon atoms are known to form only a few crystalline structures. Until 1985, the most notable ones were graphite (in your pencils) and diamond. Then, a theorized stable structure of sixty carbon atoms was finally discovered. This takes the form of a rough sphere of atoms that look a lot like a geodesic dome (or a soccer ball). Thus the name buckminsterfullerene, or Bucky Balls as they're commonly called. In the past few decades, fullerenes have been a rich field of research and a few significant applications have been developed, particularly in medicine and in the use of an extended form of the molecule known as nanotubes or Bucky-tubes. Formed in cool dusty environments, buckyballs and buckytubes may make up some of the dust between the stars in the galaxy.
So, there's a lot of fullerene research, and this is the milieu of Camille Minichino's carbon-based mystery novel, the sixth in her periodic table series. Gloria Lamerino is still a retired scientist, returned to her home town of Revere, a beach town north of Boston. She is settling in with her mate, Matt Genarro of the Revere police department, and has moved from the apartment above the mortuary, where she used to live. Mary Catharine, MC, the daughter of her best friend, is also newly returned from her research job in Houston. Soon, a private investigator turns up dead, with contact information in her pocket that leads Matt and Gloria into an investigation of a local lab that does buckyball research, and to learn a bit about the equestrian community. These things don't seem tied, on first glance, but the notion that buckyballs can be used in medical or veterinary applications offers some connection, one that Gloria follows up on through this methodical page-turner.
As in her previous novels, along with the mystery at hand, Minichino explores personal themes of an aging retired woman, at home in the town in which she grew up, involved in a relationship she didn't expect. The role of women in the sciences, and a feminist note offers strong female characters who learn to stop taking crap from the culture and the outdated expectations of men. Matt, also, faces his own aging, with a frightening illness that changes his life, and Gloria's. The mystery itself suggests interesting links between story and science, but these links go unexplored, the author missing an interesting opportunity in the interest of keeping the story lean. Still, the world she creates is quietly engaging; a straightforward murder mystery.
Also by Minichino: [The Hydrogen Murder] [The Helium Murder] [The Lithium Murder] [The Beryllium Murder] [The Boric Acid Murder]