A review by attytheresa
The Helium Murder by Camille Minichino

3.0

Retired physicist Gloria is slowly adjusting to her first winter and Christmas back in Revere, MA while hoping the local police would once again need her science expertise to solve a crime. Not that the slowly blossoming romance with Matt, a local homicide detective, had anything to do with it. The hit-and-run death of a local congresswoman who has an important vote coming up involving the nation's helium stockpiles provides her with that consulting opportunity as it appears to be a murder rather than an accident.

This is the second of the author's Periodic Table mysteries, with a very strong science theme. One of the things I enjoy is how well the author presents just enough science to educate and justify the crime, but not overwhelm the plot's cozy charm. I find middle-aged Gloria engaging and very real. I love her life-long friendship with Rose and how it and Gloria's apartment over a funeral home bring humor.