A is for Arsenic

July 13, 2015
Harkup, a chemist and Agatha Christie fan, celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Dame’s birth with this intriguing and illuminating examination of Christie’s use of poisons in her mysteries. She begins by examining Christie’s background with regard to poisons, as well as her commitment to the ethos of the detective writer. Harkup does not name a poison for every letter, but she does include more than a dozen, arranged in alphabetical chapters from Arsenic to Veronal. She gives detailed, layperson-friendly explanations of how each poison acts on the body, along with its history and origin. Readers will also find real-world cases, including some that may have inspired Christie. In addition, the science, history, and literary explication are all leavened with a generous dose of poison trivia. Harkup includes two appendices: the first covers causes of death in Christie’s stories and novels, while the second provides chemical diagrams for many of the compounds. Though Harkup does not reveal any of Christie’s culprits, the book deserves a “Spoiler Alert” tag, as she does explain how the poisons are administered as well as how the respective sleuths come to their conclusions. This compilation should please mystery fans, true crime readers, and lovers of popular science.

September 1, 2015

Former research chemist Harkup examines the gamut of poisons successfully employed in Agatha Christie's mysteries. Each of the 14 chapters takes us through the history of a toxic chemical element, molecule, or class of compounds, its physiological effect (including possible medicinal uses at proper dosages), notable real-life murders, and a synopsis of how it was employed in Christie's work. Care is taken to not name the murderer, though twice "spoiler" warnings are given when revealing the culprit is inevitable. On a few occasions the author points out where Christie may have taken liberties for plot convenience, but Christie's own training as a pharmaceutical assistant served her remarkably well in crafting scientifically accurate tales. Appendixes include a list of Christie's stories with causes of death noted and another of chemical structures of compounds. Michael Gerald's The Poisonous Pen of Agatha Christie covers similar ground but aims for a more exhaustive inventory and readability suffers a bit. VERDICT Recommended for scientifically curious mystery lovers and aficionados of CSI-type forensic dramas.--Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Lib.

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