A Very Particular Murder

It is a seemingly random, if tragic event—that Professor Max Flaschner, Nobel Prize-winning particle physicist, should collapse and die, surrounded by loving family and friends at the celebration of his life’s work and of the crowning achievement of his protégé. A shame, one might think, as does Inspector Ben Jurnet, that the brilliant and eccentric man won’t be able to hear his adopted son, Dr. Tawno Smith, read the scientific paper that would vault him into the ranks of Newton and Einstein. But it is even more of a shame—and a shock—that the Professor turns out to have been murdered by means of a glass of poisoned orange juice, perhaps intended for Tawno, administered by Tawno’s own hand. And that Tawno’s paper, now rumoured to contain revelations about the universe more earth-shattering than anyone had guessed, has disappeared before he could present it. A theory in quantum physics holds that the mere act of observation changes and shapes events. And so Inspector Jurnet, whose duty is objectivity, cannot remain unmoved by the strangely intertwined group surrounding Professor Flaschner and Tawno, individuals connected by bonds as elusive, and yet as unbreakable, as those cementing matter. To solve the myriad mysteries of God, and love, and particle physics—and the complex relationship among them—Jurnet must make quantum leaps in intuition and knowledge of the human heart before he will know how, and why, the Professor had to die. ‘A spellbinder . . . Haymon’s new novel is a masterwork, her crowning achievement so far.’ Publishers Weekly