Poison Belt: A Novel.

Summoned by their eccentric friend Professor Challenger, Edward Malone, Professor Summerlee, and Lord John Ruxton travel to Challenger's country estate, bringing with them--at the behest of their host--several canisters of oxygen. As the journey progresses, Malone recounts tales of strange goings on around the world and the behavior of all three men grows increasingly erratic. Reaching a pinnacle of bafflement, they arrive at the house of the outlandish Professor and are regaled with an eccentric theory involving their experiences and an apparent impending apocalypse. A dramatic departure from Conan Doyle's well-loved detective fiction, this is an engaging work of science fiction that provides a valuable glimpse of the author's incredible creative range.