Homicide just isn't what it used to be.  I can't think of the last time I heard about an intentionally lethal poisoning.   But back in the first few decades of the twentieth century, poison was the murderer's weapon of choice, primarily because it was so hard to get caught.  Doctors and detectives had no reliable way to detect poison in a corpse, certainly not beyond a reasonable doubt.   It wasn't until chemistry and technology became sufficiently advanced that murder by poison convictions became possible.   In The Poisoner's Handbook, journalist Deborah Blum tells of the birth of toxicology and forensic medicine in New York City, revealing how science has made poisoning a much riskier proposition.

Blum, a professor of science journalism at the University of Wisconsin, focuses the story on two individuals: Charles Norris, who served as the city's chief medical examiner starting in 1918 and cleaned up the rampant political corruption in New York's coroner system; and Alexander Gettler, Norris' right hand man and an uncompromising chemical genius, appropriately named the father of modern American toxicology.   Together these men revolutionized the approach to homicide investigation, giving it a respected scientific rigor and laying the groundwork for the realistic crime dramas we watch every night on TV. 

Focusing on a different lethal substance in each of eleven chapters, Blum starts with chloroform and moves on chronologically to cover methyl alcohol, cyanide, arsenic, mercury, carbon monoxide, radium, ethanol and thallium, revealing many of the gruesome details and chemical phenomena associated with each toxin.   With a straight-forward, but sometimes dramatic, style Blum does an effective job of blending equal parts chemistry textbook, crime drama and historical novel into one entertaining book.

No story about New York in the 1920s would be complete without a discussion of the federal government's crazy experiment in paternalism known as Prohibition.  Blum tells a riveting story of how America's love affair with its number one poison only grew stronger between Prohibition's start in 1920 and its eventual repeal in 1933.  The associated growth in crime and consumption of alternative poisons had a large impact on the medical examiner's office and served as some of the impetus that changed the office into a civic institution.

Of course, not every poisoning was a homicide.  The burgeoning chemical industry was producing countless new products to be used for medical, industrial or household purposes, some of which turned out to be incredibly dangerous.  Blum tells the birth story of the Food and Drug Administration, which due to the persistent efforts of activists like Arthur Kallet - founder of Consumers Union in 1936 - eventually became strong enough to protect consumers and workers from many of the harmful new substances in the environment.

As an unrepentant chemistry nerd, I found this book thoroughly entertaining with its abundance of scientific facts and trivia, but Blum is at her best when she presents the anecdotes that are scattered throughout the book.  She spends plenty of time exploring various murder plots by villains both clever and dim and goes on discuss how Norris and Gettler - our intrepid heroes - discover the evidence that culminates in several dramatic trips to the electric chair.    Blum chooses to include a lot of the details that make for fascinating and fun reading for anyone, even if The Periodic Table is an ancient memory from high school. 

The Poisoner's Handbook serves as a fitting tribute to two great American scientists of whom I'd never heard.    The author's skills as both science explicator and edgy storyteller are well combined, producing a book that can be enjoyed by any lover of science, American history or even just old fashioned crime dramas. 



Science nerds may also enjoy The 13th Element, another book about poison. 

Recommended: Yes