Introduction

Abstract

Readers love a good poisoning. Murder by poisoning requires secrecy and cunning, ideal for creating mystery around the culprit. But authors and actors do not always portray poisonings in a scientifically accurate way. Often speed is of the essence – pages detailing a slow agonising death are hard to read – or the dose is unrealistically small to allow it to go unnoticed by the victim. Other times the method of delivery is a bit obscure, or the victim survives the poisoning without receiving the life-saving antidote that would be needed in a real case. This chapter introduces the case studies we will use in this book to explore the use of poisons in fiction. It also looks at how poisons became public knowledge, whether through ancient medicines, religious orders, folk tales, wise women or books known as “herbals” which were printed from the 16th Century.