Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist turned author. She writes and gives regular public talks on the disgusting and dangerous side of science. Her first book was the international best-seller A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, which was shortlisted for a Mystery Readers International Macavity Award and a BMA Book Award. Her other books include Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts and Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond.

A brilliantly fun way not only to learn some chemistry but also to better appreciate the genre’s greatest writer.

• The Queen of CrimeA is for Arrow Poison – ‘The Case of the Caretaker’ (Miss Marple’s Final Cases)B is for Bacteria – Cards on the TableC is for Calmo – The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side F is for Formic Acid – ‘The Lemesurier Inheritance’ (Poirot’s Early Cases) G is for Gas – A Caribbean Mystery H is for Hydrochloric Acid – Murder in Mesopotamia J is for Jasmine – The Big Four M is for Mickey Finn – Passenger to Frankfurt N is for Nitroglycerin – ‘The Chocolate Box’ (Poirot’s Early Cases) O is for Oxalic Acid – Murder is Easy P is for Procaine – One, Two, Buckle My Shoe S is for Scopolamine – ‘Philomel Cottage’ (The Listerdale Mystery)T is for Taxine – A Pocket Full of Rye V is for Venom – Death in the Clouds Appendix: Christie’s Causes of DeathIndex

Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist turned author. She writes and gives regular public talks on the disgusting and dangerous side of science. Her first book was the international best-seller A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, which was shortlisted for a Mystery Readers International Macavity Award and a BMA Book Award. Her other books include Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts and Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond.

A brilliantly fun way not only to learn some chemistry but also to better appreciate the genre’s greatest writer.

• The Queen of CrimeA is for Arrow Poison – ‘The Case of the Caretaker’ (Miss Marple’s Final Cases)B is for Bacteria – Cards on the TableC is for Calmo – The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side F is for Formic Acid – ‘The Lemesurier Inheritance’ (Poirot’s Early Cases) G is for Gas – A Caribbean Mystery H is for Hydrochloric Acid – Murder in Mesopotamia J is for Jasmine – The Big Four M is for Mickey Finn – Passenger to Frankfurt N is for Nitroglycerin – ‘The Chocolate Box’ (Poirot’s Early Cases) O is for Oxalic Acid – Murder is Easy P is for Procaine – One, Two, Buckle My Shoe S is for Scopolamine – ‘Philomel Cottage’ (The Listerdale Mystery)T is for Taxine – A Pocket Full of Rye V is for Venom – Death in the Clouds Appendix: Christie’s Causes of DeathIndex

Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist turned author. She writes and gives regular public talks on the disgusting and dangerous side of science. Her first book was the international best-seller A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, which was shortlisted for a Mystery Readers International Macavity Award and a BMA Book Award. Her other books include Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts and Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond.

A brilliantly fun way not only to learn some chemistry but also to better appreciate the genre’s greatest writer.

• The Queen of CrimeA is for Arrow Poison – ‘The Case of the Caretaker’ (Miss Marple’s Final Cases)B is for Bacteria – Cards on the TableC is for Calmo – The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side F is for Formic Acid – ‘The Lemesurier Inheritance’ (Poirot’s Early Cases) G is for Gas – A Caribbean Mystery H is for Hydrochloric Acid – Murder in Mesopotamia J is for Jasmine – The Big Four M is for Mickey Finn – Passenger to Frankfurt N is for Nitroglycerin – ‘The Chocolate Box’ (Poirot’s Early Cases) O is for Oxalic Acid – Murder is Easy P is for Procaine – One, Two, Buckle My Shoe S is for Scopolamine – ‘Philomel Cottage’ (The Listerdale Mystery)T is for Taxine – A Pocket Full of Rye V is for Venom – Death in the Clouds Appendix: Christie’s Causes of DeathIndex