Mysterical-E

Author Snapshot

Math, Miniatures, and Other Cozy Mysteries

This issue I'm talking with multi-published author Camille Minichino who's written about miniatures, math, and other topics under the umbrella of cozy mysteries.

You can also say Camille is someone who took that old adage to "write what you know" to heart in her writing career. With a PhD in physics, she's written eight books around the periodic tables; (she reissued the first book, The Hydrogen Murder;) she's written nine books in the Miniatures Mysteries series as Margaret Grace (she collects and likes donating dollhouses for charity); she has four mysteries about a college professor written as Ada Madison (she teaches at Golden Gate University in San Francisco); and that's not all. She's writing the second book in her Post Office Mystery series (she worked at the post office on holidays during college) and self-published a mystery, Killer in the Cloister: A Sister Francesca Mystery, inspired by her 18 years as a nun.

Mysteries, of course, are about addressing a problem (or a crime), something that Camille first tackled by writing a letter, never realizing where that would eventually lead.
"I started writing seriously (with an eye toward publication) more than 15 years ago, but I started with a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe in 1952," she recalls. "I railed against Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey who wouldn't help the Boston Braves stay in Boston. It was my introduction to 'therapy through publication.'"
No wonder she turned to mystery writing—at least you can get the solution you want, right? Reading the work of favorite authors like Sue Grafton also inspired her . . .
"I thought it would be fun to have ONE book out there with my name on it," she shares, "and the next thing I knew . . . It was Sue Grafton's idea of one book for every letter of the alphabet that got me thinking about one for every element of the periodic table."
Okay, maybe some ideas are admirable, if not a bit ambitious? (The periodic table goes up to number 118). Her other numbers are still impressive: four series, 20 books published, four under contract, and two self-published. "Don't you love numbers?" she asks. (No comment.)
But no matter what topic she chooses, it's the writing and the planning that has her hooked. With mysteries, it's "the puzzle nature of some of them," she says.
The hard part? "Creating and solving the puzzle! It's about as hard as creating a crossword or acrostic or logic puzzle. Characters, dialogue, setting, stories are all fairly easy and fun. It's putting it all together and wrapping it up satisfactorily that takes work."
It's work she has yet to tire of, and her readers are glad of that. Here are a few more numbers: she's now writing book number two in her fourth series, a yet untitled Post Office Mystery; and the ninth (!) book in her second Miniatures Mysteries series, Marriage in Miniature.
So, how does she do it? Her advice to would be writers is "use all the time you can manage, even if it's only 10 minutes before a meeting. Unless you're royalty with a house full of servants and unlimited money, don't wait for large blocks of time."
Oh, and about that mansion . . . The best advice she offers is this: "If you don't enjoy it, don't do it. The external rewards are often slow to come."
When she's not writing, Camille enjoys working in miniature, watching crime dramas, or as she calls it, doing "research," and like her grandmotherly sleuth in her Miniatures Mysteries, "I'm a pushover if someone invites me to lunch or shopping!"

Here are a couple short excerpts from two of her latest releases:

The Quotient of Murder (Professor Sophie Knowles Mystery, November, 2013)
Shivering, I woke up to the present and realized that he was closing the gap between us. My car was behind me. I turned to gauge the distance to my car, and he moved faster.
"Sophie," he said. "You've come to take me up on my offer of a tour of the tower." He pointed to the sky. "A perfect time of day to see the city lights."
Before I could react, he was upon me, taking my arm, steering me to the nasty entrance to the tower. "Let's take a walk." (Read Chapter One)

Madness in Miniature (Miniatures Mysteries featuring Geraldine Porter and her granddaughter, Maddie, March, 2014)
An all-too-familiar thundering noise cut me off. At the same time, the chandelier above us began an ominous swing on its gilded chain; the coffee in Henry's mug splashed to the brim and over; a hardback book with a slippery cover on a small table slid ever so slightly in the direction of the dining room window.
Rumble, rumble. Rattle, rattle. Rumble, rumble. Rattle, rattle.
An earthquake. The only question was: Is this the Big One? (Read Chapter One.)