IT is a subject usually associated with theories, laws and equations.

But now one Southampton academic is determined to popularise physics after penning a crime thriller featuring a mysterious death, sexual intrigue and the murky world of drugs.

Dr Nick Evans, pictured right, of the university's School of Physics and Astronomy, has written The Newtonian Legacy for people who want to learn more about particle physics while enjoying a fast-paced crime adventure.

The story, available to download for free from the Internet, follows a police investigation into the death of a young researcher at a fictional theoretical physics institute in Winchester.

Added into the plot is a mysterious piece of work by Isaac Newton and the latest particle physics experiments.

Dr Evans said: "The aim of the book is to communicate science knowledge and I hope that readers will get a real insight into physics with relatively little pain.

"I don't think the science is hard to follow because the basic theories behind physics are elegantly simple.

"But the book is challenging and readers will have to think a little."

Dr Evans, who has been at the university for seven years, drew inspiration for his 63,000-word literary work from one of the biggest experiments in particle physics to be carried out later this year in Switzerland.

The world's largest particle accelerator will be switched on so that particles collide with ten times more energy than previous experiments.

Scientists believe that new particles and theories will be discovered as a result and some of these new possibilities are explored in Dr Evans' book.

He took two years to write it and hopes that it will reach a wider audience than a traditional popular science book.

"It was important for me that the science appears naturally in the story.

"I also wanted to show scientists as real people. The characters share with real-world scientists a love of what they study so that they combine events of their everyday lives such as going to the pub with discussions of physics."

It is hoped the book might persuade more youngsters to continue studying physics at university - a subject that can command high salaries for graduates in the subject who go into computing and finance.

The Newtonian Legacy can be downloaded from www.hep.phys.soton.ac.uk/evans/NL.