The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 24 August 2012
by Camille Minichino
It would seem that helium would be something too inert and light to kill for. For many years, the United States kept an enormous reserve of helium on hand, originally for use in airships in the 1930s (the Germans' use of hydrogen for the same purpose, since their own helium reserves were scarce, led to the spectacular explosion of the Hindenburg in 1937). The National Helium Reserve has been undergoing privatization and sale for the past decade. No doubt, certain corporate interests were glad to buy cheap government helium. There were bound to be others who felt that maintaining the reserve was in the nation's interest. Perhaps there were high-stakes players in that exchange. So, mystery author Minichino takes a page from obscure government and scientific policy to craft the plot of this novel, her second in a series based on the periodic table of the elements.
We are in the Boston beach town suburb of Revere. Gloria Lamerino retired young from scientific research in Berkeley and has returned to her hometown thirty years after her fianceé died there. She has established herself as a valuable resource for the local police when they need some scientific advice in their investigations. This time, it is a local Congresswoman who was involved in the debate over the National Helium Reserve. What ensues is a pretty basic investigation in which Gloria becomes something of a nuisance. After all, she is not really on the police force. She noses around where it might be less than well advised to do so. She has the habit of interviewing suspects and witholding useful evidence. This gets her in a bit of trouble along the way. Also along the way, she has a romantic interest in the chief investigator while she snubs the boyish romantic interest of a man she knows from the old days.
Minichino creates an interesting landscape for her character. She lives above a funeral home, which is good for access to murder victims. Revere itself is a scruffy working class town. And Gloria has a unique viewpoint on the crimes she helps to investigate. The investigation itself, though, is a bit clunky. Useful details to the reader seem to be left out. Just how does someone profit from the sale and manufacture of helium, and in how do people fight over the rights to the government supply? How is helium captured when we all know it floats away, the very epitome of light and elusive? So there is story potential here that seems to get lost. Gloria is frustratingly distracted in her investigations, too. While that somehow energizes the story, it can leave the reader frustrated as well. Minichino draws out threads that end abruptly, as well. The atmosphere and Gloria's engaging flightiness are not quite sufficient to carry the whole story. A murder mystery nearly as light as its object. As she moves through the periodic table, the elements get more weighty. (After eight print novels, Minichino has moved into the realm of e-books with her most recent elemental mystery stories.)
Also by Minichino: [The Hydrogen Murder] [The Lithium Murder] [The Boric Acid Murder] [The Beryllium Murder] [The Carbon Murder]
See Also: [In Revere, In Those Days by Roland Merullo]