The Poisoner's Handbook

Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

By: Deborah Blum

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City.

In The Poisoner's Handbook, Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.

Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook---chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler---investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle, and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. Yet in the tricky game of toxins, even science can't always be trusted, as proven when one of Gettler's experiments erroneously sets free a suburban housewife later nicknamed "America's Lucretia Borgia" to continue her nefarious work.

From the vantage of Norris and Gettler's laboratory in the infamous Bellevue Hospital it becomes clear that killers aren't the only toxic threat to New Yorkers. Modern life has created a kind of poison playground, and danger lurks around every corner. Automobiles choke the city streets with carbon monoxide, while potent compounds such as morphine can be found on store shelves in products ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Prohibition incites a chemist's war between bootleggers and government chemists, while in Gotham's crowded speakeasies each round of cocktails becomes a game of Russian roulette. Norris and Gettler triumph over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice.

©2010 Deborah Blum (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Nominee - Best Nonfiction Audiobook, 2011

"Blum effectively balances the fast-moving detective story with a clear view of the scientific advances that her protagonists brought to the field. Caviar for true-crime fans and science buffs alike." (<>Kirkus)
"With the pacing and rich characterization of a first-rate suspense novelist, Blum makes science accessible and fascinating." (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)
"Blum interlaces true-crime stories with the history of forensic medicine and the chemistry of various poisons…. [A] readable and enjoyable book.... Highly recommended." (Library Journal)

Reads like a murder documentary

For anyone who likes documentaries and murder mysteries— If you like podcasts about murder mysteries this is for you. Fascinating science history as well as political and social history. All told in an interesting and messy to follow storyline.

The editing was off a bit causing the reader’s spacing between words to be off every once in a while.

Fascinating read

Story took me a little to get into it but after a few chapters I was hooked. I’m amazing as the information, the evolution of chemistry. Would read again :)

Awful, Robotic Narration

This book is interesting and I enjoyed the content. However, I absolutely hated this narration. She sounds like an AI generated assistant or the “press * for more options” voice you might hear on an automated telephone line. Her inflection was bizarrely inhuman, her pacing was too slow (I had to listen on 1.2 speed), and her pronunciation had me thinking the forensic scientist featured in this book was named “Narz” until I tried to look him up and found, to my utter surprise, that his name was “Norris”…

Interesting book; marginal reader

Fascinating information on poisons; scary incites into our history and culture in the context of corporate irresponsibility and government hesitation to act. The reader damaged the experience with overwrought attempts at foreign accents and obvious mispronunciations of scientific terms. I really wish there were technically savvy proof-listeners for audio as there are proof readers for the written word.

Enjoyable Enough

This audiobook was good if you like to hear about the development of science and interaction of scientific advances with history, politics and society and crime.

The narrator was fine, though I disliked the voices she used when quoting some characters--they seemed like rude caricatures.

Interesting book, horrible narration

I am currently about 3/4 of the way through this book. The story itself if fascinating. However, for a reader with a scientific bent, it is a little lite. But I am really struggling with the narration. As bad as any I have heard in my experience with audible books. It's a real job to listen to this narrator. I guess it speaks well for the book, itself, that I am determined to finish it.

Morbid Curiousity and Fun

A mix of historic narrative, scientific examination, personal narrative, and crime intrigue, this book encapsulates everything we love about reading. It follows the careers of two men who created the office and techniques of the modern medical examiner. Like all great historical novels we see how they reform a whole practice with no money, no political backing, and endless work on their tables.

More than that, though, this is a book about how their scientific techniques evolved over the twenties in New York. Peppered with incredible stories of poison, gas leaks, murder, and accidents there is always something more and something fun to hear in this book. The pace is good, the narration is solid, and the promise of something shocking will keep you sitting in your car, listening, long after you arrived at your destination.

Fascinating

I would never have believed that a story about pathologists would have been so fascinating. The combining of crimes, scientific bits about poisons of all sorts and the emergence of a new approach and new tools for detection and law enforcement made for a really engrossing story. Part detective story, part history, part science and all entertaining and educational. I loved it.

A historical version of CSI: New York!

I bought this book on impulse during one of Audible's $4.95 sales, and boy am I glad I did! This book is a fascinating tour through a number of murder cases and investigations in New York between 1890 and 1930, touching on social history, chemistry, and the evolution of criminology and forensic science. The story is as much about the struggle of the NYC coroner to re-establish the reputation of his dept. after a series of inept Tammany Hall political appointees bungled their ways through various poisoning cases, as about the development of the science of detecting whether someone's been poisoned or died of natural causes. It's a great listen--interesting material and anecdotes, well-told, that paint a vivid picture of life during the Industrial Age, when foods, over-the-counter medicines, furnishings, clothing, and workplaces were commonly laced with poisons like arsenic and mercury, and when hundreds of people a year died of accidental poisonings before the Pure Food and Drug Act and various occupational safety laws came into effect. Very enjoyable, and I'm definitely going to look and see what else this author has written. So, if you're in the mood for a historical CSI-type book, I highly recommend this one!

The Poisoner's handbook

This is an awesome nonfiction book! Even though it is long it is very informative.