Mysteries = mc2

Camille Minichino, my delightful guest, has quite a varied background--physics professor, dollhouse builder, and mystery writer. It all adds up to fascinating stories. Check her out! [image error] The moon? Did Ellis Vidler, my gracious hostess on my blog tour, include the moon as a potential topic?I've been following this blog for a while and I've found so many writers far more qualified than I am to give thoughts on language, literature, and the craft of writing. But from what I've noticed, no one has waxed (or waned) on the moon recently.That's my forte. Well, physics, which certainly includes the moon.I've never been able to understand why physics gets such bad press, as being difficult or boring.Consider this story fed to us by physics: we're standing on a squashed, wobbling sphere that's spinning at about 1000 miles/hour, while at the same time orbiting around a fiery ball that's about 13 million degrees at its core.Whew. I'm dizzy. And hot. Anything but bored. What a story.You can see how doing physics is a lot like writing a mystery. [image error] The scientist or sleuth looks around, finds clues, and discovers patterns. She then constructs a theory: based on the observed behavior, how did the universe get to this state? Or, how did this murder come to be?Both physics and mystery writing are creative attempts to construct a model of observed, measured reality. Both endeavors challenge us to come up with a good story.For fun, ask yourself which statements below are from physics and which from fiction.1. The moon orbits the earth at about 2200 miles/hour.2. The universe is made up of tiny, invisible strings, vibrating in many dimensions.3. A particle called the tachyon can travel back in time.All are from contemporary physics, of course.And all are parts of great stories.My latest protagonist, Professor Sophie Knowles, teaches mathematics  (more great stories) at a small New England college. It's no surprise that she's able to use her logic and puzzle-solving abilities to help the local police.
[image error] Camille Minichino is the author of three mystery series, beginning with The Periodic Table Mysteries. "The Hydrogen Murder" will be re-issued as an e-book in summer, 2011. Her akas are Margaret Grace (The Miniature Mysteries) and Ada Madison (The Professor Sophie Knowles Mysteries). The first chapter of 'The Square Root of Murder," debuting July 5, 2011 is on her website: http://www.minichino.com You can pre-order The Square Root of Murder and find her other books online.