The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
(OverDrive Listen)

Deborah Blum. (2010). The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Unabridged Tantor Media, Inc.

Deborah Blum. 2010. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Tantor Media, Inc.

Deborah Blum, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Tantor Media, Inc, 2010.

Deborah Blum. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Unabridged Tantor Media, Inc, 2010.

OverDrive Product Record

images

• cover:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1219-1/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img100.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• thumbnail:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1219-1/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img200.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover150Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1219-1/7DD/507/42/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img150.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover300Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1219-1/7DD/507/42/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img400.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg

formats

1. • identifiers:
     1. • type: 8
        • value: tantor_audio#9781400185504
     2. • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781400195503
   • name: OverDrive Listen
   • id: audiobook-overdrive

edition

Unabridged

otherFormatIdentifiers

1. • type: ISBN
   • value: 9781400115501

mediaType

Audiobook

primaryCreator

• role: Author
• name: Deborah Blum

isOwnedByCollections

True

title

The Poisoner's Handbook

dateAdded

2025-06-30T20:13:00Z

contentDetails

1. • href: https://link.overdrive.com?websiteID=426&titleID=767842
   • type: text/html
   • account:
     • name: Wake County Public Libraries (NC)
     • id: 1893

sortTitle

Poisoners Handbook Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

crossRefId

767842

classifications

subtitle

Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

id

7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8

OverDrive MetaData

isPublicDomain

False

formats

1. • duration: 09:14:22
   • fileName: PoisonersHandbook9781400185504
   • partCount: 0
   • fileSize: 266101442
   • identifiers:
     1. • audience: retailer
        • type: 8
        • value: tantor_audio#9781400185504
     2. • audience: library
        • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781400195503
   • name: OverDrive Listen
   • isReadAlong: False
   • id: audiobook-overdrive
   • onSaleDate: 3/3/2010
   • samples:
     1. • source: Part 1
        • formatType: audiobook-overdrive
        • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8&.epub-sample.overdrive.com

creators

1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Blum, Deborah
   • name: Deborah Blum
2. • role: Narrator
   • fileAs: Marlo, Coleen
   • name: Coleen Marlo

imprint

Tantor Media

publishDate

2010-03-03T00:00:00Z

edition

Unabridged

isOwnedByCollections

True

title

The Poisoner's Handbook

fullDescription

Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook, Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.


Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook—chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler—investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle, and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. Yet in the tricky game of toxins, even science can't always be trusted, as proven when one of Gettler's experiments erroneously sets free a suburban housewife later nicknamed "America's Lucretia Borgia" to continue her nefarious work.


From the vantage of Norris and Gettler's laboratory in the infamous Bellevue Hospital it becomes clear that killers aren't the only toxic threat to New Yorkers. Modern life has created a kind of poison playground, and danger lurks around every corner. Automobiles choke the city streets with carbon monoxide, while potent compounds such as morphine can be found on store shelves in products ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Prohibition incites a chemist's war between bootleggers and government chemists, while in Gotham's crowded speakeasies each round of cocktails becomes a game of Russian roulette. Norris and Gettler triumph over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice during a remarkably deadly time. A beguiling concoction that is equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is a compelling account of a forgotten New York.

gradeLevels

1. • value: Grade 9
2. • value: Grade 10
3. • value: Grade 11
4. • value: Grade 12

popularity

464

links

• self:
  • href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/L1BLQAAAA2a/products/7dd50742-971e-4d1d-ae47-a7af182389b8/metadata
  • type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
• shareInLibby:
  • href: https://link.overdrive.com/share?q=YrcLAAWUhr4
  • type: text/HTML

id

7dd50742-971e-4d1d-ae47-a7af182389b8

images

• cover:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1219-1/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img100.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• thumbnail:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1219-1/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img200.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover150Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1219-1/7DD/507/42/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img150.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover300Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1219-1/7DD/507/42/{7DD50742-971E-4D1D-AE47-A7AF182389B8}Img400.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg

isPublicPerformanceAllowed

False

languages

1. • code: en
   • name: English

subjects

1. • value: History
2. • value: Medical
3. • value: Nonfiction

publishDateText

03/03/2010

otherFormatIdentifiers

1. • type: ISBN
   • value: 9781400115501

mediaType

Audiobook

shortDescription

Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook, Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.


Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook—chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler—investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle, and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary...

sortTitle

Poisoners Handbook Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

lexileScore

1190

crossRefId

767842

classifications

awards

1. • source: Publishers Weekly
   • value: Listen Up Award

subtitle

Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

publisher

Tantor Media, Inc

bisacCodes

1. • code: HIS036010
   • description: History / United States / State & Local / General
2. • code: HIS036060
   • description: History / United States / 20th Century
3. • code: MED000000
   • description: Medical / General