Hey, it's Flora Licksman and you are listening to Science Friday.

Today in the podcast, death by poison, with the mistress of mystery, the Duchess of Death,

the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, who happened to be a chemistry nerd.

You really have to be quite picky to find fault in her use of poisons.

She is absolutely top quality in her scientific accuracy.

In about half of Agatha Christie's stories, poison is the murder weapon of choice. Dr. Catherine Harcup,

chemist-turned-author, explored those poisons in a new book, V's for Venom, Agatha

Christie's Chemicals of Death. Catherine, welcome back to Science Friday. Thank you for having me.

Catherine, this is not your first book about poisons or even about Agatha

Christie's poisons. What has brought you back to this well? Agatha Christie is so varied

in her choice of poisons. Everyone seems to think it's just arsenic in the ubiquitous cups of

tea served at the vicar's table. It's not that. She is so

imaginative and creative, not just in the choice of poisons, but how they're deployed, how they're

detected, how signs are signalled to her readers and other characters within the book. So I had more than enough material to fill one book.

And you must love writing about the science of killing people.

Oh, who wouldn't?

Okay.

Well, how accurate is the poison science in Agatha Christie's books?

I have to say she is top-notch.

You really have to be quite picky to find fault in her use of poisons. There are certain examples where she speeds up the effects

or she exaggerates the detectability, perhaps. But it's, you know, you can understand that for the purposes

of a story. Nobody wants to read about eight hours of agonizing stomach cramps. We want to get on

...