Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - the more things change, the more they are still the same! Especially in those papers (now called, disparagingly, tabloids) that specialised in the salacious. But still, it was an interesting book and 3 1/2 stars.Ī fact I learned from the book: that when Parliament dropped the tax on newspapers to make them very cheap, literacy in the UK burgeoned. She is a journalist specialising in health and social issues, and the book needed someone who could write a cracking good story and develop the characters so we would want to see the right John convicted instead of it all being rather academic and so what-ish. The author was the wrong person to write the book. The overarching theme was poisoning explicated through a story, but what it should have been was the story first with poisoning being the theme. The characters, it has to be said, were somewhat flat and undeveloped. The science was interesting, especially learning of the mistakes of 'infallible' expert witnesses. The main story, though slight, was a good idea and well written. This all sounds pretty good, right? It was well researched.

Although he was not found guilty (when he was), with the developments in science in parallel cases, it was shown that if he had come to court ten years later, the court would have reached in a different decision. The elements were all linked through the story of the murder of George Bodle, a wealthy landowner, by his grandson Young John, who blamed his father Middle John.

Science - the beginnings of forensic science and poisons History - the rampant use of poison in the 19thC as a method of disposing of the unwanted who had what the murderer wanted: money, hence the title In this account of one of history's most notorious poisonings, Sandra Hempel tells the story of the birth of toxicology - the science of poison - and of a mystery which gripped the nation.This book was a mixture of three elements: As the evidence mounted up, a picture emerged of bitter family rivalries, brewing resentment, greed and ill-will. Yet, while arsenic was readily available over the counter in the 1800s, poisoning was almost impossible to prove. When his wife, daughter and two maids are also taken ill, there is only one terrifying explanation. Wealthy landlord, George Bodle is taken violently ill. In the nineteenth century it was criminally easy to bump off unwanted relatives. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher meets Victorian science! 'A well-researched and fascinating account of some of the most gruesome and mysterious murders' P.D. Family rivalry, a bungled murder and the fascinating history of poisoning.

The Inheritor's Powder by Sandra Hempel