The Hay Poisoner

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Arts, Books

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

All the best murder mysteries start with a scone laced with arsenic. Find links to all the books and sources mentioned at shedunnitshow.com/thehaypoisoner. Become a member of the Shedunnit Book Club and get bonus audio, listen to ad free episodes and join a book-loving community at shedunnitshow.com/bookclub. Books and sources: —The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards —A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup —Exhumation of a Murder by Robin Odell —Dead Not Buried by Martin Beales —Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles —The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley —Detection Unlimited by Georgette Heyer —Murder Is Easy by Agatha Christie —Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers —Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers —Bernard Spilsbury: His Life and Cases by Douglas E Browne and EV Tullett To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/thehaypoisonertranscript. Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	On the 26th of October, 1921, a solicitor called Oswald Martin went to have tea with a fellow lawyer named Herbert Armstrong.
0:14.6	The two work for rival law firms in the town of Hayon Y, which lies on the border between
0:19.5	England and Wales.
0:22.4	They were currently representing opposite sides in a local property dispute,
0:26.5	but everything seemed amicable to Martin, and he chatted with Armstrong as they enjoyed
0:31.3	the cake and scones Armstrong's housekeeper had laid out.
0:37.0	At some point during the meal, Armstrong picked up a buttered scon and handed it to his
0:41.3	guest to eat, asking Martin to excuse fingers.
0:47.0	Later that day Martin was taken very ill with what at first seemed to be a bilious attack.
0:52.3	Although he then developed a
0:53.5	worryingly rapid pulse and a local doctor was called in to treat him.
0:57.2	It turned out that during his tea with Armstrong, Martin had consumed a hefty
1:02.2	dose of arsenic.
1:03.4	His subsequent illness set in motion a train of events that led to an exhumation,
1:08.2	an infamous murder trial, and eventually an historic execution.
1:14.0	The case was hailed by George Orwell as a grisly highlight of Britain's Elizabethan period of murder
1:20.0	and it went on to exert great influence over crime writers working in the 1920s like Dorothy
1:26.0	El Sayers and Anthony Barclay.
1:29.7	After all, isn't a poisoner handing his victim a scon laced with arsenic during a genteel tea party,
1:36.2	just like something out of a golden age murder mystery.
1:47.0	Welcome to She Dunnet. I'm Caroline Crampton. This is another installment in my irregular series about the real life crimes that inspired the writers of classic detective stories.
1:55.6	Today we're going to learn all about Herbert Rouse Armstrong and how his adventures with
	...

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