deborah blum

Halloween may be over, but I'm still elbow-deep in some very spooky reading: The Poisoner's Handbook, by Deborah Blum. I learned about this book from one of my favorite podcasts, "Stuff You Missed in History Class," since they've referred to it in a couple of episodes on famous poisoners lately. The book is about the birth of modern forensic medicine, which more or less took place in Jazz Age New York. The medical examiner's office had been a pretty corrupt and lazy department, accepting bribes to change death certificates and generally not being too ethical. Until, that is, the crime-fighting [...]