{"id":20854,"date":"2022-10-09T16:26:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-09T20:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=20854"},"modified":"2022-10-31T21:18:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T01:18:15","slug":"a-is-for-arsenic-the-poisons-of-agatha-christie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20854","title":{"rendered":"A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie"},"content":{"rendered":"

A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie<\/a><\/em> (2015) Kathryn Harkup<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Agatha Christie volunteered as a nurse during the first world war, and ended up working at the pharmacy.<\/p>\n

In order to prepare for the Apothecaries Hall examination Christie was tutored in practical, as well as theoretical, aspects of chemistry and pharmacy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And she volunteered again during the second world war, which meant that she was updated on the changes in the previous to years.<\/p>\n

This book looks at the poisons Christie used in her mysteries, how those poisons work on the body, and any criminal cases that might have inspired her in one of her books.<\/p>\n

The name \u2018arsenic\u2019 comes from the Persian word zarnikh, which means \u2018yellow orpiment\u2019, a brightly coloured compound of arsenic and sulfur. 3 Zarnikh was then translated into the Greek word arsenikon, which was related to another Greek word, arsenikos, meaning \u2018masculine\u2019 or \u2018potent\u2019, before we finally arrive at arsenic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obviously I loved all the little details.<\/p>\n

Arsenates (AsO43-) are structurally and chemically similar to phosphates (PO43-) and the body is unable to distinguish between the two.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is one of the clearest explanations I’ve ever read on how a poison works.<\/p>\n

Although to be honest, I’m not positive I needed to know how to make a zombie.<\/p>\n

In Haiti datura is known as the zombie cucumber, because of its use in zombie powders. Making a Haitian zombie is a two-stage process. Stage one uses a powder whose principal component is pufferfish.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But now I know.<\/p>\n

And I learned so much else of little use, but which was fascinating.<\/p>\n

CYANIDE makes an appearance in no less than ten Agatha Christie novels and four short stories, where she uses it to bump off 18 characters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And kinda fun as well.<\/p>\n

However, between 20 and 60 per cent of people cannot smell cyanide. The research done in this area is not huge \u2013 asking people to sniff cyanide, even in safe amounts, does not have volunteers queuing out of the door.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I love knowing just how accurate her stories were.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma<\/p>\n

Rating : 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie (2015) Kathryn Harkup Agatha Christie volunteered as a nurse during the first world war, and ended up working at the pharmacy. In order to prepare for the Apothecaries Hall examination Christie was tutored in practical, as well as theoretical, aspects of chemistry and pharmacy. And she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,30,292,8,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-british","category-ebook","category-mystery","category-science-nature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-5qm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3652,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3652","url_meta":{"origin":20854,"position":0},"title":"A Pocket Full of Rye","author":"Michelle","date":"March 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) Agatha Christie Rex Fortescue dies in his office, immediately after drinking his morning tea. Besides the strange poison used to kill me, police are confused by the fact he coat is full of cereal--rye. Miss Marple doesn't make her appearance until almost halfway through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Pocket Full of Rye","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/pocket-full-of-rye-182x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4902,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4902","url_meta":{"origin":20854,"position":1},"title":"Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (2013) Agatha Christie From The Thirteen Problems (1953) The Tuesday Night Club The Idol House of Astarte Ingots of Gold The Bloodstained Pavement Motive v. Opportunity The Thumbmark of St. Peter The Blue Geranium The Companion The Four Suspects A Christmas Tragedy The Herb\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Miss-Marple-The-Complete-Short-Stories","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Miss-Marple-The-Complete-Short-Stories.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12850,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12850","url_meta":{"origin":20854,"position":2},"title":"The Murder at the Vicarage","author":"Michelle","date":"May 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) I was listening to Read or Dead and they were talking about Agatha Christie's first book, which had been published in 1920--100 years earlier, and one of them mentioned her being a comfort read, and I was immediately, \"YES. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Murder at the Vicarage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/The-Murder-at-the-Vicarage.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21338,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21338","url_meta":{"origin":20854,"position":3},"title":"The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) One had to face the fact: St. Mary Mead was not the place it had been. In a sense, of course, nothing was what it had been. You could blame the war (both the wars) or the younger\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Mirror Crackd from Side to Side","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/The-Mirror-Crackd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20897,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20897","url_meta":{"origin":20854,"position":4},"title":"The Body in the Library","author":"Michelle","date":"April 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Body in the Library (1942) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) The second Miss Marple book has both Miss Marple and Sir Henry Clithering. One of the things I always loved Agatha Christie books is how descriptive they can be. The gay, laughing expression on his face was wiped off as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Body in the Library","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/The-Body-in-the-Library.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3450,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3450","url_meta":{"origin":20854,"position":5},"title":"The Murder at the Vicarage","author":"Michelle","date":"January 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie It's been years since I've read an Agatha Christie, but she's always been on of my favorites, and so I decided it was the perfect thing to read while I'm sick and feeling somewhat miserable. This is the first Miss Marple mystery,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Murder at the Vicarage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/murder-at-vicarage.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}