Title: Poisonous Tales
Author: Hamnett, Hilary
Published by: Royal Society of Chemistry
Year: 2023
Date reviewed: 04.25
ISBN: 978-1-83916-143-8

Dr Hilary Hamnett is a forensic toxicologist and Associate Professor of Forensic Science at the University of Lincoln, UK. In this book she reviews a number of fictional stories involving poisoning, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Casino Royale, The Count of Monte Christo and Harry Potter. She suggests what poisons might have been used and what their effects would have been. She quotes other cases, real and fictional, of poisoning by these substances.

Along the way we learn about monkshood and aconitine, belladonna, mandrake, henbane and other poisonous plants. Then there are venomous snakes (Cleopatra) and poisonous chemicals (arsenic, lead).

Each section is meticulously referenced, and the technology of analysing for the toxins or their by-products in a modern laboratory described. A glossary at the start gives the chemical structure and brief notes about each chemical mentioned and a description of the various laboratory techniques.

Is it a useful handbook for would-be poisoners? Possibly, though perhaps the most significant lesson to be learned is that making your own poisons is a very hit-and-miss affair and probably best avoided!