V is for Vengeance

V is for Venom
Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury Sigma)

In her five-year writing journey, Agatha Christie masterfully introduced a range of poison-related narratives, showcasing varied lethal substances and toxins often derived from living creatures or administered through injections.

Chemist Kathryn Harkup previously explored similar themes in her 2015 work A is for Arsenic. The follow-up, V is for Venom, delves deeper into the chemicals that played significant roles in Christie’s narratives, reinforcing her status as the quintessential “Queen of Crime.”

Christie’s murder scenarios gain credibility thanks to her scientific background. Before her writing fame, she worked as a pharmacist and further honed her knowledge of toxicology while serving as a nurse during World War I. Harkup offers a thorough yet accessible exploration of the substances central to her stories, many of which were not simply labeled “dangerous.”

Spoiler alert: In 1939’s Murder is Easy, the perpetrator used contaminated bandages originally applied for cat ear infections, while the antagonist in Sparkling Cyanide employed carbon monoxide from gas. Harkup elucidates the science behind each murder, carefully avoiding significant spoilers, such as the potential for “poison darts concealed in a modified cigarette” or the implications of ingesting toxic hat paint (both plausible yet perilous).

Harkup also examines fictional poisons crafted by Christie, like Benvo, introduced in the 1970s in Passengers to Frankfurt, which causes the victim to become fatally benevolent: “clearly, this is not ideal.”

The author outlines antidotes and their implications—CPR might have saved the lives of guests unknowingly consuming opioids in 1962’s The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side. Meanwhile, real-life cases that likely inspired Christie’s plots are discussed.

Drug-laced beverages emerge as a recurring murder technique in several of Christie’s works. Harkup references a dishonorable Scottish chemist who, in the 1870s, worked in a San Francisco bar and was notorious for slipping “knockout drops” into customers’ drinks, inadvertently giving rise to the term “Mickey Finn.”

Harkup emphasizes that many substances from Christie’s narratives remain widely accessible today. Barbiturates, as featured in the 1933 novel Edgware Lord Dies, are currently prescribed for epilepsy, such as Secondal. However, she cautions against using Christie’s methods as inspiration for murder, noting that toxicology has evolved since Christie’s writing era; any current attempts to replicate her fictional crimes are likely to be swiftly uncovered or could result in disaster.

Harkup’s analyses are scientifically rich yet engaging, intertwining real murder accounts that may have inspired Christie’s imagination. Discover tales of a wealthy individual who perished in 2011 after consuming a cat meat stew laced with Gelsemium, the same plant featured in the 1927 work The Big Four. Harkup also dissects a 1936 hydrochloric acid murder from Murders in Mesopotamia, drawing parallels to today’s corrosive attacks.

Christie’s innovative murders secured her legacy as a timeless bestseller. It is fitting that one of her favored quotes is highlighted, as Harkup notes in the Pharmaceutical Journal: her debut novel, responding to the 1920s Mysterious Events of Style, was recognized for its remarkable authenticity.

George Bass is a writer based in Kent, UK.

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