V is for Venom

Finalist in the 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Awards (Best Critical/Biographical)

‘Hugely entertaining and informative’ — Mark Aldridge

‘Harkup balances the macabre with the scientifically intricate’ — New Scientist

Fourteen stories. Fourteen more poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn’t mean it's all made-up ...

Agatha Christie is renowned for her captivating plots and creative ways of killing off ill-fated victims. And what better way to add intrigue to a story than poison? The surreptitious ways they can be administered and the characteristic symptoms they produce make these killer chemicals the ideal method of murder in a ‘whodunit’. Christie perfected the use of poisons in her plots; her deft and varied use of toxic substances is one of her great strengths as a writer. But how is it that some compounds prove so fatal, and in such tiny amounts?

The follow up to Kathryn Harkup's best-selling A is for Arsenic, V is for Venom is a compelling exploration of fourteen more poisons from the works of Agatha Christie and her extensive chemical knowledge. This book investigates the science behind the deadly substances, the history of their use in real-life murder cases, and how feasible it was to obtain, administer, and detect these poisons in Christie’s time and today. Combining Christie’s murder mysteries, chemical science, and true crime, V is for Venom is a celebration of the use of science by the undisputed Queen of Crime.