Agatha's poison pen

Toxins the Poirot author used in plots inspired real-life killers, a book reveals

- BY SIOBHAN MCNALLY

THERE'S nothing the public enjoys more than a good murder - a fictional one, of course!

And there was little the best-selling crime author Agatha Christie liked better than weaving an ingenious poisoning into one of her book plots.

In her 66 books and 14 story collections - many of which have been adapted for film and TV, including her Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot series - the Queen of Murder often turned to poison as a way to do in her victims.

It was this choice of weapon that put Christie head and shoulders above other writers during the Golden Age of detective fiction, according to a new book.

Kathryn Harkup, inset, who wrote V is Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death, says:

"Christie did use an awful lot of guns, stabbing, blunt objects, strangulation to kill her characters - she went through the entire range.

"But I think she is exceptional in her use of poisons, because she was a chemist and such a prolific writer that she used so many different examples in her books."

Christie's dispensing experience is apparent in her writing. Born in Torquay, UK, in 1890, she volunteered during the First World War as a nurse and later trained as a dispenser. By 1920, her first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, was published - and featured strychnine poisoning.

In her stories, Christie quotes quantities of poisons in grains. She was not a fan of the modern measuring system.

"The great danger of the metric system is that if you go wrong, you go 10 times wrong" she said.

A trained chemist herself, Kathryn is impressed by Christie's accuracy in her plots.

Any would-be poisoners looking for a guide take note, though: many of the toxins mentioned are no longer available.

Kathryn says: "What has changed since the 1970s is accessibility - you just can't get hold of the stuff that Christie's writing about very easily.