The Secret Poisoner: A Century of Murder

The Secret Poisoner: A Century of Murder

by Linda Stratmann (Author)

Synopsis

Murder by poison alarmed, enthralled, and in many ways encapsulated the Victorian age. Linda Stratmann's dark and splendid social history reveals the nineteenth century as a gruesome battleground where poisoners went head-to-head with authorities who strove to detect poisons, control their availability, and bring the guilty to justice. She corrects many misconceptions about particular poisons and documents how the evolution of issues such as marital rights and the legal protection of children impacted poisonings. Combining archival research with a novelist's eye, Stratmann charts the era's inexorable rise of poison cases both shocking and sad.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Edition: 1
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 01 Mar 2016

ISBN 10: 0300204736
ISBN 13: 9780300204735

Media Reviews
Poisoning, Linda Stratmann makes clear in this extravagantly detailed history, was one of the great fears of the 19th century... Filling her pages with case after case, she pursues her subject with the dogged persistence of a laboratory analyst. -Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times -- Andrew Holgate Sunday Times The Secret Poisoner chronicles an amazing array of poisonings... Stratmann is highly skilled at combining brevity with colour, her rapid succession of poisonings soon coalesces into an overall pattern. -Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday -- Craig Brown Mail on Sunday A riveting history on the employment of poisons and the rise of regulations on them ... mystery readers will be intrigued by the murderous methods and their effects on victims. -Library Journal Library Journal Linda Stratmann makes a fine job of chronicling the cat-and-mouse contest between poisoners on the one hand and science and law on the other...ghoulishly fascinating -Jacqueline Banerjie, TLS -- Jacqueline Banerjee TLS There's fire in [Stratmann's] sociological thesis that poison murder was a secret crime, the chosen method of voiceless women, children and servants - those who had no legal power within the Victorian patriarchal system. -Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review -- Marilyn Stasio New York Times Book Review
Author Bio
Linda Stratmann is an expert on Victorian crime and the author of several nonfiction books, including Yale's The Marquess of Queensberry. She lives in London.