Edith Pargeter, who also writes under the name Ellis Peters, previously combined her passion for history and storytelling in her creation of the much-loved monk, Brother Cadfael. It was she who paved the way for many others to explore the past through the thriving field of historical mysteries, and for this she was loved by readers and other writers alike. Past Poisons is a bumper crop of outstanding new short stories by the leading American and British historical crime writers, all wishing to pay tribute to the work of Ellis Peters. Maxim Jakubowski is a former publisher and owner of the world-famous Murder One bookshop in London's Charing Cross Road. As well as being a writer and editor of various past cult publishing imprints, he is acknowledged as a disturbing and controversial voice in contemporary fiction. His collections have sold massively. He is a regular on television and radio where he is an expert on crime, erotica, and film. As a columnist for the Guardian he also writes on the arts for The Times. Maxim is literary director of the prestigious Crime Scene festival held at London's National Film Theatre. He is the author of many titles including Skin In Darkness, but also the editor for Past Poisons (An Ellis Peters Memorial Anthology of Historical Crime) and Murder Through the Ages.
Did food poisoning cause the Black Plague, the Salem witch-hunts, and other significant events in human history? In this pathbreaking book, historian Mary Kilbourne Matossian argues that epidemics, sporadic outbursts of bizarre behavior, and low fertility and high death rates from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries may have been caused by food poisoning from microfungi in bread, the staple food in Europe and America during this period. "A bold book with a stimulating thesis. Matossian's claims for the role of food poisoning will need to be incorporated into any satisfactory account of past demographic trends."--John Walter, Nature "Matossian's work is innovative and original, modest and reasoned, and opens a door on our general human past that historians have not only ignored, but often did not even know existed."--William Richardson, Environmental History Review "This work demonstrates an impressive variety of cross-national sources. Its broad sweep also reveals the importance of the history of agriculture and food and strengthens the view that the shift from the consumption of mold-poisoned rye bread to the potato significantly contributed to an improvement in the mental and physical health of Europeans and Americans."--Naomi Rogers, Journal of American History "This work is a true botanical-historical tour de force."--Rudolf Schmid, Journal of the International Association of Plant Taxonomy "Intriguing and lucid."--William K. Beatty, Journal of the American Medical Association
Old Poisons, New Problems is a practical guide to identifying, testing for, and dealing with contaminated cultural materials archived in museum collections. Special features include worksheets for performing basic tests, charts of scientific and historical information on known pesticides, data resources, and illustrations. This book will be useful to the museum community and tribal groups involved with the management and/or repatriation of these collections.
No one looks kindly on the killer of a king. “Fast-paced and refreshing.” – SLJ, starred review “The perfect blend of history and dark fantasy.” – Mary Taranta, author of Shimmer and Burn “Thrilling, romantic, and addictive.” – Rosalyn Eves, author of Blood Rose Rebellion “The only cure is to finish it.” – Lyndsay Ely, author of Gunslinger Girl After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, seventeen-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother’s Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: they’re not heroes of the people, as they’ve always claimed to be, but murderers. Herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters her mother vows to purge. Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the Sun King and half of the royal court, he must become the prince he was never meant to be in order to save his injured sisters and the petulant dauphin. Forced to hide in the sewers beneath the city, Josse’s hope of reclaiming Paris seems impossible—until his path collides with Mirabelle’s. She’s a deadly poisoner. He’s a bastard prince. They are sworn enemies, yet they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and former nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed?
Open access edition: DOI 10.6069/9780295749013 At first glance, medicine and poison might seem to be opposites. But in China’s formative era of pharmacy (200–800 CE), poisons were strategically employed as healing agents to cure everything from abdominal pain to epidemic disease. Healing with Poisons explores the ways physicians, religious figures, court officials, and laypersons used toxic substances to both relieve acute illnesses and enhance life. It illustrates how the Chinese concept of du—a word carrying a core meaning of “potency”—led practitioners to devise a variety of methods to transform dangerous poisons into effective medicines. Recounting scandals and controversies involving poisons from the Era of Division to the Tang, historian Yan Liu considers how the concept of du was central to how the people of medieval China perceived both their bodies and the body politic. He also examines the wide range of toxic minerals, plants, and animal products used in classical Chinese pharmacy, including everything from the herb aconite to the popular recreational drug Five-Stone Powder. By recovering alternative modes of understanding wellness and the body’s interaction with foreign substances, this study cautions against arbitrary classifications and exemplifies the importance of paying attention to the technical, political, and cultural conditions in which substances become truly meaningful. Healing with Poisons is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem) and the generous support of the University of Buffalo.
For centuries, arsenic's image as a poison has been inextricably tied to images of foul play. In King of Poisons, John Parascandola examines the surprising history of this deadly element. From Gustave Flaubert to Dorothy Sayers, arsenic has long held a place in the literary realm as an instrument of murder and suicide. It was delightfully used as a source of comedy in the famous play Arsenic and Old Lace. But as Parascandola shows, arsenic has had a number of surprising real-world applications. It was frequently found in such common items as wallpaper, paint, cosmetics, and even candy, and its use in medical treatments was widespread. American ambassador Clare Boothe Luce suffered from exposure to arsenical paint in her study, and Napoleon's death has long been speculated to be the result of accidental or intentional poisoning. But arsenic poisoning is still a public menace. In the neighborhood surrounding American University in Washington, D.C., the army has undertaken a massive cleanup of artillery shells and bottles containing chemical warfare agents such as arsenical lewisite after a number of workmen and residents became ill. Arsenic contamination of the water supply in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, India, is a major public health problem today as well. From murder to crime fiction, from industrial toxin to chemical warfare, arsenic remains a powerful force in modern life.
This book provides an overview of historical and contemporary cases of homicidal poisoning. While homicidal poisoning is sometimes thought of as a thing of the past, it continues to be a contemporary problem, and in fact the unknown offender rate for poisoning cases is 20-30 times that of other homicide types in contemporary research, and many poisoners commit serial homicides while going undetected. The author of this important and timely work explores the theoretical bases for understanding homicidal poisoning, the nature of poisons used in homicidal cases, the characteristics of poisoners and their victims, and techniques for detection and prevention. This unique book will be of particular interest to: students of criminology (classes dealing with criminal psychology, and murder investigation); students of the history of crime; criminal justice professionals: attorneys, homicide detectives, forensic pathologists, forensic and clinical toxicologists, and other forensic investigators; and all interested in poisons, poisoners and the detection of poisoning. It has relevance to criminology, law and policing, toxicology and forensic science, the history of crime and detection, and criminal psychology. Endorsements: "A most welcomed addition to the important subject of the criminal poisoner. The author has done a fantastic job of researching the world literature, and distilling it down for the reader. The work is very well referenced, and provides critical information for law enforcement, forensic pathologists, and others, that could be dealing with the criminal poisoner." John H. Trestrail IIIToxicologistLos Lunas, New Mexico USA "Dr Michael Farrell has produced a comprehensive and authoritative work on a most serious but often overlooked aspect of criminal assault - the act of poisoning. In the Criminology of Homicidal Poisoning, Farrell seamlessly weaves together the facts about poisons and their use as an instrument of homicide with the context of the larger issue of murder. By examining the poisoner and the victim, the reader is provided a depth of understanding about how a deadly outcome arose and why the choice was made to employ poison to get the grisly job done. With criminal homicide by poisoning making up a small percentage of known crimes, the danger of insufficient scholarly attention is present. Dr Michael Farrell makes a significant contribution to ensure against this potential. As a homicide researcher, I know Criminology of Homicidal Poisoning will join the works I turn to in understanding the nuances of the how and why of homicide." Dr Richard M. Hough, Sr., Criminology and Criminal Justice and Public Administration Program Coordinator, University of West Florida, US "This comprehensive text links forensic toxicology with criminology, making a solid contribution to both fields. Farrell not only describes how homicidal poisoning fits the most popular criminological theories for why people kill but also examines the nature and lethality of various poisons, identifies trends in poisoning, provides a history, and shows offender traits and victim characteristics. In addition, he discusses issues for investigators and prosecutors who will be taking a poisoning case to trial." Katherine Ramsland Professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University, PennsylvaniaPsychology Today/div
This handbook will help veterinary clinicians and their staff to manage cases of poisoning in dogs and cats. It will also help answer enquiries about potential poisonings received from concerned pet owners. The content has been compiled from over 15 000 past cases referred to the Veterinary Poisons Information Service - a 24-hour information service for veterinary surgeons. The VPIS experience is compared and contrasted with case data and reports from the literature to provide a comprehensive overview of both toxicity and management for the agents included. Each agent, or group of agents, has a separate chapter covering its effects in either the cat or the dog. In some cases the species information is combined where the clinical effects and management are identical. The chapters provide all the information necessary for the immediate management of a particular poisoning case. This includes doses at which clinical intervention is advisable and dosing regimens and indications for any drug therapy required. Thus the user will be able to access quickly all the information needed for an emergency situation without having to refer to other sources.
It is London in the 1890s. A young woman has just taken a dose of a tonic she’s been given in the belief that it will improve her complexion. About ten minutes pass and she starts to experience breathing difficulties. Another minute and she collapses. Mercifully, death arrives but the poison has not yet finished, for the process of rigor mortis has set in with unusual speed. Her body is frozen into a rigid and contorted mass. This is the horror of strychnine, the nastiest of poisons. Despite knowing all the dreadfulness of this poison, Dr Thomas Neill Cream, the Lambeth Poisoner, used it to kill several prostitutes. And who knows how many other victims experienced the horror of strychnine, for it was by no means an uncommon poison. Today, there may well be more poisons available to the individual than ever before, but there are also advances in medical examination and forensic analysis that increase the likelihood of the poisoner being caught. This book will examine poisons, both natural and man-made menaces, and cases based on a particular poison as well as information about how forensic analysis is conducted. Appealing to scientists and non-scientists alike, this enthralling book will entertain and educate and bring the reader up to date with how important chemical analysis is in crime detection.
A teenage assassin kills with a single kiss until she is ordered to kill the one boy she loves. This commercial YA fantasy is romantic and addictive—like a poison kiss—and will thrill fans of Sarah J. Maas and Victoria Aveyard. Marinda has kissed dozens of boys. They all die afterward. It’s a miserable life, but being a visha kanya—a poison maiden—is what she was created to do. Marinda serves the Raja by dispatching his enemies with only her lips as a weapon. Until now, the men she was ordered to kiss have been strangers, enemies of the kingdom. Then she receives orders to kiss Deven, a boy she knows too well to be convinced he needs to die. She begins to question who she’s really working for. And that is a thread that, once pulled, will unravel more than she can afford to lose. This rich, surprising, and accessible debut is based in Indian folklore and delivers a story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
