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

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating history, while not as broad in scope as "The Poisoner's Handbook" suggests. With fascinating asides into such poisons as thallium, arsenic, and Marie Curie's radium the poisons of this book are endemic to the region and period covered: Prohibition Era NYC. That means such lethal spirits as re-natured alcohols, with wood, methyl, and ethyl alcohols. Besides swells and sots keeling over from these poisons, this is the story of the early days of forensic examiners in The Big Apple, specifically the resourceful yet criminally underfunded office of Charles Norris, chief medical examiner. A fascinating slice of New York crime history touching on memorable and famous cases.

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