V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARDS (BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL)'Hugely entertaining and informative' MARK ALDRIDGE'Harkup balances the macabre with the scientifically intricate' NEW SCIENTISTFourteen stories.Fourteen more poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn’t mean it's all made-up ... Agatha Christie is renowned for her captivating plots and creative ways of killing off ill-fated victims. And what better way to add intrigue to a story than poison?The surreptitious ways they can be administered and the characteristic symptoms they produce make these killer chemicals the ideal method of murder in a ‘whodunit’.Christie perfected the use of poisons in her plots; her deft and varied use of toxic substances is one of her great strengths as a writer.But how is it that some compounds prove so fatal, and in such tiny amounts?The follow up to Kathryn Harkup's best-selling A is for Arsenic, V is for Venom is a compelling exploration of fourteen more poisons from the works of Aga