Summary:

Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum follows New York
City's first forensic scientists to discover a fascinating Jazz Age
story of chemistry and detection, poison and murder. 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; 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 during a remarkably deadly time. A beguiling concoction that
is equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science
thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a
forgotten New York.

Classification:

(click to see other 'Books on the Same Shelf')

Dewey Class: 614.130974710904 -- Incidence & prevention of disease

Book Details:

Physical Description: 6.2"x9.1"x1.2"; 1.2 lb; 336 pages
Edition Info: Hardcover; 2010-02-18

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Subjects:

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•	History -- Americas -- United States -- State & Local -- Mid-Atlantic (860)
•	History -- Americas -- United States -- State & Local -- New York (733)
•	Medicine -- Pharmacology -- Toxicology (465)
•	Medicine -- Specialties -- Pathology -- Forensic Medicine (362)
•	Nonfiction -- Crime & Criminals -- Forensic Science (813)
•	Professional & Technical -- Medical -- Medicine -- Internal Medicine -- Pathology -- Forensic Medicine (343)
•	Professional & Technical -- Medical -- Pharmacology -- Toxicology (529)
•	Science -- General (43665)
•	Science -- Technology -- History of Technology (2642)

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