Science is frequently like detective work.
Both professions rely on some similar methods. People, hopefully, go into science to promote knowledge and discovery, not obscure and tamper with the facts as the natural world has presented them. Both the author and the hero of the story do a lot of detective work to flesh out the professor who damages the cause he is supposed to be working towards. The guts of the story, in relation to the events as they occurred on Rum as referenced in the title, only encompass about 50 pages near the center of the book. Things do pick up though and can be quite exciting after about page 100.