The Secret Poisoner: A Century of Murder

The Secret Poisoner: A Century of Murder

by Linda Stratmann
The Secret Poisoner: A Century of Murder

The Secret Poisoner: A Century of Murder

by Linda Stratmann

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Overview

“This fine social history charts the changing patterns of using poison” and the forensic methods developed to detect it in the Victorian Era (The Guardian, UK).
 
Murder by poison alarmed, enthralled, and in some ways even defined the Victorian age. Linda Stratmann’s dark and splendid social history reveals the nineteenth century as a gruesome battleground where poisoners went head-to-head with scientific and legal authorities who strove to detect poisons, control their availability, and bring the guilty to justice.
 
Separating fact from Hollywood fiction, Stratmann corrects many misconceptions about particular poisons and their deadly effects. She also documents how the motives for poisoning—which often involved domestic unhappiness—evolved as marriage and child protection laws began to change. Combining archival research with vivid storytelling, Stratmann charts the era’s inexorable rise of poison cases.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300219548
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 08/11/2020
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 344
Sales rank: 60,513
File size: 5 MB

About the Author

Linda Stratmann is the author of several nonfiction books, including The Marquess of Queensberry.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Author's Note xi

Introduction: The Awful Sentence of Death 1

1 The Devilish Dumplings 5

2 Smothered in Onions 18

3 The Greatest Refinement of Villainy 33

4 Arsenic and Old Graves 48

5 The Suspicions of Mr Marsh 62

6 French Porcelain 76

7 This Troublesome World 89

8 Getting Away with Murder 103

9 Alarm and Indignation 117

10 The Essex Factor 131

11 Tobacco Kills 144

12 Nil by Mouth 156

13 The Palmer Act 171

14 Expert Witnesses 187

15 Deadly Doctors 203

16 Matrimonial Causes 217

17 Sleight of Hand 233

18 Disappearing Poison 246

19 Our American Cousins 259

Epilogue: Dangerous Drugs and Cruel Poisons 274

Glossary 285

Notes 288

Bibliography 309

Index 318

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