Summer is the time for book reading for most people, especially me. The Poisoner's Handbook by Pulitzer Prize winning Deborah Blum is amazing on so many fronts. Now the title may sound scary, it is about poison, but not about how to use it. It is how to catch those people who do use poison, the old fashioned way. Forensics as we know them have only really been around since prohibition and this is their story.
Modern forensics owe a lot to two men from New York, first chief medical examiner Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler, toxicologist. Before Norris medical examiners could be anyone doctors, funeral directors, musicians. There was no standard until Norris sunk his own money into the examiner's office as well as Bellevue hospital. This dynamic team solved so many murders and accidents because of their desire to continue against all odds.
The chapters are set up by poison. Each chapter shows how Norris and Gettler managed to find a definitive way to prove the specific poison caused the death. It also contains the fight against city hall for keeping the office running. Even Laguardia took away their clocks to save money.
If you love the history of Prohibition, this is the book for you. It maps the rise of rail liquor in New York City and the results of drinking this liquor. During prohibition there were more alcohol related deaths than before its inception. Norris & Gettler found a way to prove prohibition was killing us and that stiff drinks were making us stiffs.
If you like history, forensics, prohibition or New York pick up this unassuming book.
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