A Is for Arsenic

Fourteen Agatha Christie novels. Fourteen poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's entirely made up . . . The popular fascination with murder is no more evident than in the enduring popularity of Agatha Christie's Golden Age mysteries. The more unusual or macabre the method, the better, and Agatha Christie delivers: she used poison to kill her characters more often than any other crime fiction writer. Christie learned a great deal about chemistry working in a pharmacy during both world wars, and her knowledge is on display in such mysteries as Five Little Pigs and Appointment with Death . The poison was a central part of the novel, and her choice of deadly substances was far from random; the chemical and physiological characteristics of each poison provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. Written by former research chemist Kathryn Harkup, A is for Arsenic takes on fourteen beloved Christie novels and investigates the poison used by the murderer. Fact- and fun-packed, A is for Arsenic looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, and the feasibility of obtaining, administering, and detecting these poisons, both when Christie was writing and today.