The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
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In early twentieth-century New York, poisons were everywhere—arsenic in cosmetics, cyanide in household cleaners, even lethal alcohol during Prohibition. For murderers, they offered the perfect weapon. For the city’s corrupt coroner’s office, they were cases easily ignored.
That changed in 1918 with the arrival of Chief Medical Examiner Charles Norris and his brilliant toxicologist, Alexander Gettler. Together, they fought political corruption, unmasked killers, and built the foundations of modern forensic science.
Blending Jazz Age history with real-life detective work, The Poisoner’s Handbook reveals how two men turned chemistry into a weapon against crime—and forever changed the pursuit of justice.
This title carries the Raven’s Seal of Approval, reserved for tales that haunt and linger.