The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science

Hempel, Sandra

ISBN 10: 0393349888 / ISBN 13: 9780393349887

Published by W. W. Norton & Company (edition Reprint), 2014

About this Item

The item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way.

Seller Inventory # 0393349888-7-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (edition Reprint)
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393349888
• ISBN 13: 9780393349887
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: Reprint.
• Condition: Fair

About this title

Synopsis

"Fascinating…one of history’s most important poisons―and most important murders." ―Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook

Available at any corner shop for little money and, because tasteless, difficult to detect in food or drink, arsenic was so frequently used by potential beneficiaries of wills in the first half of the nineteenth century that it was nicknamed “the inheritor’s powder.” But after wealthy George Bodle died under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind several heirs, the chemist James Marsh was brought in to see if he could create an accurate test pinpointing the presence of arsenic and put this Victorian scourge to rest.

Incisive and wryly entertaining, science writer Sandra Hempel brings to life a gripping story of domestic infighting, wayward police behavior, other true-crime poisonings, and an unforgettable foray into the origins of forensic science. She also solves this almost two-hundred year-old crime.

6 illustrations

About the Author

Sandra Hempel is a medical journalist whose work has appeared in the Times, the Sunday Times, and the Guardian. The author of The Inheritor's Powder and the award-winning The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump, she lives in London.