The Hydrogen Murder

Periodic Table #1

by Camille Minichino

Meet retired physicist Gloria Lamerino, an intrepid sleuth who signs on as a consultant with the Revere, Massachusetts police department. Gloria uncovers scientific fraud, solves a murder, and engages in her first physical combat, all in the same week.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Crime, Novels, Mystery Thriller, Cozy

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 24, 1997

About the author

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

Reviews

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW: THE HYDROGEN MURDER [PERIODIC TABLE Series #1] by Camille Minichino

I enjoyed this book so much! I'd been intrigued by the series title, and I was delighted at how much I reveled in the story. The author is a retired physicist, and she understands how to bring science to life for lay readers. Her love of science shines through and is vivified through series protagonist Gloria Lamerino. Gloria, retired at 55, returns to the hometown she left thirty years earlier--Revere, Massachusetts. Unsure if she intends to remain, or to return to Berkeley, she renews old friendships and acts as a civilian science consultant to a homicide detective. The second case opens romantic possibilities, and also a doorway to her own potential fatality.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! It made the science nerd in me happy and I liked the writing style and characterization. I will definitely read more in this series!

[Almeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The real mystery here is that hydrogen gas can be turned to metal.

There is nothing in Camille Minichino's Goodreads biography to give the impression that she knows anything about physics. As far as I know she is an alchemist promising to turn rocks into gold.

Looking forward to seeing what else is being served at the Periodic Table.


ETA: Minichino has a PhD in physics, according to Amazon.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of a series of books in which different elements are used in murders was an intriguing one to me, as a chemistry major and one who loves mystery novels, so I was excited to run into this in the library. The book, however, was disappointing. It was much more a romance than a mystery, and failed to live up to expectations. Despite the premise of the series, I will stick to Sayers, Christie, and Peters.

[Whitney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this because I think it is such a cool premise for a mystery series. But, I just couldn't get into it. The author is forever describing the narrator's clothes and the mystery itself was not very exciting. It felt formulaic and the characters just didn't grab my attention. I might read one more to see if the series improves, but so far this is not on my list of go-to mysteries.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very sciency and I needed Gloria’s explanations as much as Matt did. The story was good and I enjoyed it. I liked the characters too. This book was written in the late 1990’s and it’s held up but I did get a chuckle that every time Gloria got online it was referred to as the World Wide Web.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Period Table mystery series by Minichino. There are eight books in this series and all have been released. This was a bit of a different type of book from my normal fare, being purely a mystery with a scientific bent to it. I ended up enjoying it. I liked the heroine and her background as an ex-research scientist was interesting.

This is one of the few books I have read where the heroine is an older woman (in her upper 50's). If I am going to be honest here...I had some trouble relating and engaging with her because of her age. She just seemed a lot older than her mid to upper 50's in the story. Additionally she is supposed to be a strong and forward thinking heroine but given the age of the book her idea of forward-thinking was pretty weak.

This book is also very dated. In the story the super modern technology are things like cordless phones, additionally computers are just entering the scene..

The mystery is okay but fairly predictable. I think the most enjoyable parts for me were following some of the activities the heroine undertook in her post-retirement time. She does talks for schools about science and helps the police department solve cases with a scientific twist to them.

Overall, although I enjoyed this I don't plan on reading more books in the series. I did enjoy the science themed mystery but the older heroine paired with the dated aspects of the story made it hard for me to engage with both the characters and the story. This book just does not age well given all the advances that have been made in technology in the last 20 years.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is fun for science geeks!

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

I like the idea of this science based mystery, but I have a difficult relationship with cozy mysteries, and once again the style just isn’t working for me.

[Ppcfransen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a collection of series debuts.

The plot was interesting enough, although I kept wondering why the police would need to know the nitty-gritty of a scientific research for a murder investigation. I also kept wondering why anyone would ever have any room for dinner if they all were snacking on canolli so much.

Gloria pours over the print-out of a scientific research in the hope to find some clues. At the bottom of the print-out are three symbols she can't explain. These are the last letters the victim typed and turn out the be the murder's initials. Why the murder typed initials rather than the name of the murderer (or the first three letters if he was stopped in the process of typing) makes little sense to me. I doubt he would call the murderer by their initials.

There were too many little annoyances in this book for me to consider reading another one in the series, but I am curious what the covers for the Tungsten (W) and the Potassium (K) murders will look like.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant cozy ... but for some reason, I just couldn't get into it. It kept my interest enough not to put it aside, but not enough to hook me into not wanting to put it down. (Unlike my wife, who finished it in just a few days).

And I don't know why. A pleasant (or intentionally unpleasant) cast of characters. A Whodunnit that I did not figure out. (Although I confess to having grasped the meaning of the main clue almost as soon as I saw it. Perhaps THAT was my frustration - knowing the clue was there and watching others fumble and bumble around it.)

As for why I figured out the clue BUT not the murderer ...
the clue required me to delve into a computer (hardware and software) which I did not have in my possession. Knowing WHAT it was and HOW to resolve it left me hanging with the fact that I did not have the tools to complete the task.


I have others in this series, and will give them a try, but I'm not jumping them in the TBR line.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gloria is a retired physicist who has returned home to MA after 30 years in California, living in an apartment over a funeral home owned by her best friends' in-laws, and not quite sure what to do with herself. She becomes a consultant for the local police when a local physicist is murdered; Gloria is to provide the science and scientific research information needed for the police to solve the murder. Of course, she gets a little more involved than that! First in a series of cozy mysteries where each features an element of the Periodic Table, I was totally charmed and cannot wait to read more about Gloria and her sleuthing.

This series has been OOP - they are rather charmingly set in the 1990s where things like overhead projectors are used rather than Powerpoint Presentations -- but recently re-issued in ebook. If you are a science geek and like cozy mysteries, don't miss these!

[Sue Edgerton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not prone to writing "negative" reviews, but if this hadn't been my Book Club's next selection, I would not have finished this book. Since I have a degree in Chemistry, I was attracted to the story's heroine, Gloria, a retired female physicist in her 50s, but I did not like the constant references to what Gloria was wearing or eating. I really didn't care what lapel pin she was going to wear or that the police detective's brown tie matched his eyes! This seemed more like a romance novel than a who-dunnit and the final climax between the killer and Gloria seemed far-fetched.

I will not be reading the other 7 books in the "PERIODIC TABLE" series.

[Irene Sauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this intelligent mystery. It is always a pleasure to read a title in a little known setting from an author who knows her subject. In this case it is physics. Doctor Gloria Lamerino, retired physicist, has moved back to her home town of Revere. Her experience is called on by the local police department to consult on the murder of a physics researcher. It doesn’t hurt that she is rather drawn to the investigating officer. The story is well written and entertaining. Recommended.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find these books to be adequate, mostly. This is the same author who has written (as Ada Madison) a series starring a math professor, which I enjoy, although the math is pretty light weight. This protagonist was enough different that I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't know that there is a lot that would cause me to recommend this series over others, though.

[Missyjohnson1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple little mystery. Likable characters and the physics aspect gave it a bit if uniqueness. I won’t hurry to pick up another in this series, but will read more. I am slightly curious as to what Gloria is able to get into next and if she teams up with Matt Genaro. This story. A team of physicists try to make hydrogen into a metal since it would be able to conduct electricity so well. Eric is murdered prior to the release of the study and the mystery begins. They discover that data has been altered and the entire team is aware. It could mean the loss of millions of dollars so everyone is a suspect. Gloria is living in an apartment above her friends Frank and Rose Galigani’s funeral home. If she doesn’t move, that could have some interesting storylines

[Cathie Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had potential to be a great book, but due to the ending, it gets only a very good. The characters were well developed and likeable. There were some very good twists and turns in the book. I found the topic most interesting. Suspense. Some good humor. Here's the problem. The author spent all this time building a relationship between the main character and the detective, but in the end, she blows right over it and jumps into many weeks that past and suddenly their together. How did that happen? Recommend.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author seemed to be trying really hard to make it sound like they could understand an elderly (well, 50-something) character, but in turn it was just lots of stereotypes about fashion choices. Story was okay, but I kept getting distracted by the relationship (or lack thereof) and again the weird age insistence.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good mystery - kept me guessing on who the killer was. I enjoyed learning a tiny bit about physics. I liked Matthew but the lead character seemed kind of shallow to me. Negative references to her mother and her religion - maybe justified considering her history with her mother and her brand of religion. I would have preferred more about the science/physics.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming and quirky

I read this series back in the nineties, and have just returned to it. What a treat to revisit Revere, MA in the 90s, with a semi-retired physicist as the tour guide. The local details are sure to bring a smile, and it’s the most painless physics course ever! Oh, and a little mystery, a little romance, and plenty of Italian-American food.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the writing--the character descriptions and dialog and the way with words and humor. This was a fast moving story with a good mystery. I found myself so easily sinking into this book. I don't know how to say it better. From the first few pages I felt "ahhhh" and I was never let down.

[Davida "Davi" · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am planning to read the next book in the series.

[Dinnl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book. The scientific background was enough to make it different and it was great to see an older woman as heroine. I will try the next one in the series.

[Carol-lynn Bower · Rating 1 out of 5]

Figured who did it by pg 22... sigh

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute-ish cozy mystery. The science was interesting and I liked the characters but I definitely could have done without the constant body-shaming. I probably won't continue with this series

[Kirsten Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Might try again, but starts a bit slow.

[Mary Jo Miuccio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read! Well written with vivid descriptions. Engaging plot and sub-plot. I am ready for the next book by Camille Minichino.

[Jessica Lerbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pro-science sentiments were great, but it wasn't the greatest mystery and I didn't love the main character

[Julie Carithers Overstreet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great page-turner mystery. Keeps you guessing until the end!!

[Linda Sadler · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this books pacing seemed off to me. It was a weird 90’s no technology vibe. The ending was good and it had kept me guessing.