The Beryllium Murder

Periodic Table #4

by Camille Minichino

Sporting brains, hips, and a sense of adventure, fifty-six-year-old Gloria Lamerino single-handedly proved her mettle as a shrewd physicist-sleuth in The Lithium Murder, and she's about to do it again.

Gloria suspects something is amiss when she learns that Gary Larkin has died of beryllium poisoning in his Berkeley, California, physics laboratory. The police deem his death a tragic accident, but Gloria, who has worked with Gary before, knows better. She heads out to the West Coast, determined to uncover the truth. In the process, she finds herself enmeshed in the search for a missing teenager. Internet pornography, beryllium disease, jealous coworkers, nasty divorce proceedings, and an illegitimate child. All are pieces of the puzzle, and it isn't long before Gloria discovers that her two parallel investigations are linked in ways even she never expected. The Beryllium Murder transports us to the scenic Berkeley hills--and to a self-contained world where hard science and sudden death meet.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Camille Minichino is also known as Ada Madison and Margaret Grace.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 4th in Minichino's Periodic Table mystery series finds Gloria visiting her friend Elaine in Berkley, as promised, a year after she m0ved to the East Coast. An added enticement of course, Gloria being unable to resist suspicious deaths in the world of science labs, is that the leading scientist in beryllium, the 4th element on the Periodic Table, has died suddenly and suspiciously of accidental beryllium poisoning a couple weeks earlier. On arrival, Elaine asks Gloria to help find her boyfriend's teen son, who has disappeared. Gloria of course can't help investigate both, irritating the local detective and worrying her friends back East, especially Matt with whom she had finally taken the next step in intimacy just before leaving for the West Coast.

I enjoyed this but less than the prior series books I've read. I do enjoy Gloria, a retired physicist and a woman of a certain age struggling with her personal image issues, and in a sense only now accepting and embracing her past in a way to move forward with her life, now she's no longer hiding in a lab. But some of it is getting a little tiresome. Gloria's persistance though as a crime investigator, which seems to be particularly fumbling here where she's no longer in a small town surrounded by those willing to put up with her idiosyncracies, keeps the plot moving and enjoyable.

[NebulousGloom (FK) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is really hard to write these mystery series in which the main character has no real reason to be solving murders and maintain any kind of plausibility. However, this one did a pretty darn good job. The characters are nice and the mysteries are good. I was quite pleased.

[Roberta Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and enjoyed the Periodic Table mysteries when they were just published. As a chemistry major, I loved the scientific details that Minichino adds. Now I am rereading the books and they are just as much a delight as before.

[Cathie Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. The characters are well developed. Main character is not so annoying in this book, though going and meeting people who are potential murderers is not my cup of tea. The plot and storyline was good. This book had a pretty good ending, but she still needs to work on it. The ending just seems to come out of nowhere. There's no real transition from the solving of the crime to the next step in the characters life. Some of the repetitions in the book could be removed with something better, especially at the end but it's still a great book. Highly recommend.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Gloria but her life is a little too much

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Beryllium Murder by Camille Minichino is the fourth book in the periodic table mystery series. Once again retired physicist Gloria Lamerino becomes involved in murder in the scientific community when a previous colleague dies of beryllium poisoning. Having worked with the victim, Gloria realises his death is no accident despite having been labelled as such by the local police and decides it is up to her to uncover the truth. An entertaining, pleasurable read following the pattern set in the prior books. Gloria is becoming more adept with sleuthing, her romance is developing and she is having fun in her retirement.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great angle for a series...element by element. Sadly, premise for this particular book (with suspects afraid that they are in trouble for using work computers for personal use) does not play well in 2011...just allow it to be the case and the story works.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Beryllium Murder" - written by Camille Minichino and published in 2000 by William Morrow. Much as I like the elements of the Periodic Table idea, this was a forgettable, bland mystery.

[Judi Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love used book stores, you find all sorts of interesting books. This one wasn't too bad.