The Poisoner’s Handbook

The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
By Deborah Blum
Penguin $25, 307 pages

New York City in the Jazz Age was rife with poison. “Morphine went into teething medicines for infants; opium into routinely prescribed sedatives; arsenic ... in pesticides and cosmetics”. So it’s no surprise that murder would often go unpunished. With most poisons untraceable, they were instrumental in committing the perfect crime.

But a series of “unsolved murders” and scandals “involving corrupt coroners” prompted the city to hire pathologist Charles Morris, who, together with Alexander Gettler, opened New York’s first toxicology laboratory.

Blum recounts the pair’s investigations, dividing the chapters by the type of poison used. Cases include a diner serving poisonous pies, and deadly moonshine at the time of Prohibition. Fast-paced and suspenseful, The Poisoner’s Handbook breathes deadly life into the Roaring Twenties.