The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

by Deborah Blum

Equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is "a vicious, page-turning story that reads more like Raymond Chandler than Madame Curie." —The New York Observer

“The Poisoner’s Handbook breathes deadly life into the Roaring Twenties.” —Financial Times

“Reads like science fiction, complete with suspense, mystery and foolhardy guys in lab coats tipping test tubes of mysterious chemicals into their own mouths.” —NPR: What We're Reading

A fascinating Jazz Age tale of chemistry and detection, poison and murder, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten era. In early twentieth-century New York, poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Science had no place in the Tammany Hall-controlled coroner's office, and corruption ran rampant. However, with the appointment of chief medical examiner Charles Norris in 1918, the poison game changed forever. Together with toxicologist Alexander Gettler, the duo set the justice system on fire with their trailblazing scientific detective work, triumphing over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice.

In 2014, PBS's AMERICAN EXPERIENCE released a film based on The Poisoner's Handbook.

• ISBN10: 014311882X
• ISBN13: 9780143118824
• Publish Date: 25 January 2011 (first published 1 August 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Penguin Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780143118824

Reviews

[mrs_mander_reads]

Such a good book! Definitely a must read for anyone who likes true crime or even thrillers. Each section details a real-life crime for each poison. Quick read, and I really enjoyed it.

[MurderByDeath]

This is a fascinating look at the birth of forensic science in the United States from 1917 through the 1930's; specifically, at the revolutionary changes brought about by two men: the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, Charles Norris, and toxicologist Alexander Gettler.  It's well-written, engrossing, and sometimes even sensational.   

The book is divided up by chapters, each representing one of the prevailing poisons of the jazz-age era and the crimes committed with them, with an inevitable focus on the effects of prohibition.  While there are some deviations within each chapter in order to maintain a chronology in the historical narrative, each chapter focusses on breaking down a specific poison, its physiological effects and methods of detection.  Blum does this in a way that is both accessible and fascinating...and sometimes gruesome.    

My only complaints are purely personal:  Blum wrote a thorough, comprehensive history of these two great men, but that requires a discussion of animal experiments, something I can't tolerate even as I recognise their contributions.  I also found that the emphasis on the dangers of prohibition-era alcohols grew tedious.  There's no way to write a history of this time frame without methyl- and ethyl- alcohols dominating the history, but I still found myself growing a bit weary of reading about them towards the end.   

What these two men accomplished in their time was phenomenal; their dedication, their perseverance is downright inspiring.  If you enjoy science and/or history, I'd recommend this book without reservation.

[Mystereity Reviews]

This first came to my attention as a show on PBS and I was fascinated by it, not only for the subject of poisonings, but also how forensics and medical examiners offices came about.  The book has all the same information but was able to go a little more in depth. A little dry in parts (and I confess, I had to skip over any parts where they talked about using dogs as test subjects; yes I understand the importance but it's something I really don't want to have to think about.) but the case histories were fascinating, compelling and horrifying.  The one story that will always stay with me is about The Radium Girls, a group of young women who were employed painting watch faces with Radium.  One of the first women to die, a woman in her early 20s, had a jaw so degraded that the dentist "lifted it out with his fingers."
 
Try to get that image out of your head.
 
Overall a fantastic, haunting and memorable book and one I recommend to anyone interested in forensics.

[g2pro]

The author did a great job of telling about the birth of Forensic Medicine in a narrative. Not the same as "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson but if you like that one you should like this one.