The strange case of Mrs. Hudson's cat

In this suspenseful volume Colin Bruce has recreated the atmosphere of the original Sherlock Holmes stories to explain the most fascinating principles of physics in a new, exciting way - through twelve completely original adventures of London's most famous fictional inhabitant. In this fast-paced collection, Sherlock Holmes, ably assisted by the faithful Watson, Professor Challenger, and other beloved Conan Doyle characters, must unravel the paradoxes and principles of classical and quantum physics in order to solve a crime, prevent an assassination, or rescue a damsel in distress. In the title story, years before Schrodinger put his uncertain cat into its deadly box, Holmes and Watson discover that a harmless lottery may have catastrophic quantum effects on their landlady's poor tabby. In the Case of the Pre-Atomic Doctor, the detectives can only save a lonely widow from the chicanery of a charlatan by anticipating Einstein's discovery of the random molecular jumps of Brownian motion. In the Case of the Missing Energy, the arrogant, quirky Professor Challenger is called upon to solve the eerie thermodynamics puzzle of divers found dead of heatstroke at the bottom of an icy sea. And in the Case of the Energetic Anarchist, Holmes and Watson must brave the inevitable laws of nuclear physics to stop a terrorist from setting off the ultimate weapon. These suspenseful new tales have a dual purpose: to entertain, and to explain the fascinating laws of physics the way the great detective would have done.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Science Fiction, Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.