The Poisoner's Handbook

Archival Summary & Scope

Equal parts true crime, Jazz Age history, and science thriller, *The Poisoner's Handbook* reveals early twentieth-century New York, where unchecked poisonings were the perfect crime. With science absent from the corrupt Tammany Hall coroner's office, justice was elusive. That changed in 1918 with Chief Medical Examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler. This pioneering duo transformed the justice system, battling overwhelming odds to establish forensic chemistry and become the gatekeepers of justice. A "vicious, page-turning story" (*The New York Observer*), this book uncovers a forgotten era of detection and murder.