2007-05-24 Oddly Unsatisfying

John Emsley is one of my favourite science writers and I came to this tome with high hopes of being thoroughly entertained, but finished it with a vague sense of disappointment

Entitled « Elements of Murder » the book actually only considers the malicious use of five _ mercury, lead, arsenic, thallium and antimony. Unhappily for Emsley (and even more unhappily for the recipient), the alleged use of polonium as a poison post dates this work, or the variety could have been improved.

The science bits of the book (how and why these things are so darned nasty) is superbly written, as are the sections of what can only be called trivia - the speculations the both Mozart and Napoleon met their ends as the result of ingesting, either by accident or design, toxic metals. Where the book fails to deliver is in the description of some famous proved cases of murder by poisoning, such as those carried out by George Chapman. Emsley is a talented science writer, not a teller of juicy scandal and by the time the last couple of murders are reached, the tales are getting a little repetitive.

Buy the book for well written popular science and you will not be disappointed: buy it for the history of crime and I think you might feel short changed.