{"id":1059,"date":"2024-10-28T12:49:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T12:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/?page_id=1059"},"modified":"2026-01-26T10:17:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T10:17:47","slug":"elementor-1059","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/?page_id=1059","title":{"rendered":"V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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V is for Venom: Agatha Christie\u2019s Chemicals of Death<\/a><\/h1>

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Fourteen stories. Fourteen more poisons. Just because it\u2019s fiction doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s all made-up \u2026
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Agatha Christie revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books; indeed, she employed it more than any other murder method, with the poison itself often being a central part of the novel. Her choice of deadly substances was far from random \u2013 the characteristics of each often provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but this isn\u2019t the case with poisons. How is it that some compounds prove so deadly, and in such tiny amounts?<\/p>

This book, the follow-up to Kathryn Harkup\u2019s best-selling A is for Arsenic<\/i>, <\/i>features fourteen more poisons from the books of Agatha Christie. V is for Venom<\/i> explores the scientific facts behind the chemicals Christie put to such deadly use in her fiction. How do these compounds affect the body? What is their history of use in real-life murder cases, some of which may have inspired Christie, and how feasible was it to obtain, administer and detect these poisons, both at the time the novel was written and today?

<\/i>V is for Venom<\/i> is a celebration of the use of science by the undisputed Queen of Crime.<\/p>

Shortlisted for The Mystery Writers of America’s 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Critical\/Biography<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Reviews and Interviews<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Air Mail – Poison Pen<\/a><\/p>

Big Think Books – Murder, she measured<\/a><\/p>

Shelf Awareness – The Best Books This Week<\/a><\/p>

Book Riot Podcast – New releases for 24 June, 2025<\/a><\/p>

The Mirror – Agatha Christie<\/a><\/p>

Booklist<\/a><\/p>

Library Journal<\/a><\/p>

Fine Books & Collections<\/a><\/p>

The Seattle Times (via The Minnesota Star tribune)<\/a><\/p>

Science Friday – How Agatha Christie Used Chemistry to Kill<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Find the full bibliography here<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

V is for Venom: Agatha Christie\u2019s Chemicals of Death Fourteen stories. Fourteen more poisons. Just because it\u2019s fiction doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s all made-up \u2026Agatha Christie revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books; indeed, she employed it more than any other murder method, with the poison itself often being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1059","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1059"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1246,"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1059\/revisions\/1246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harkup.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}