Books by Deborah Blum | Lisanne Swart
Author Guide · Lisanne Swart
Books by Deborah Blum
Deborah Blum has one book on this shelf, and it earns its place. The Poisoner’s Handbook is the kind of nonfiction that reads with the pull of a novel while never softening what it’s actually documenting.
By Lisanne Swart · 1 book · Nonfiction · Updated August 2026
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NonfictionThe Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Deborah Blum · 2010
In 1920s New York, poisoning was close to the perfect crime — undetectable, untraceable, and legal medicine had no way to prove it. Blum follows the city’s first scientific medical examiner and toxicologist as they invent forensic science more or less from scratch, chapter by chapter, poison by poison, case by case, against a backdrop of Prohibition-era carelessness with chemistry that killed thousands of ordinary New Yorkers.
Blum structures the book around individual poisons — each chapter is a substance and a case — which turns what could be a dry science history into something closer to an anthology of solved mysteries. It’s popular science built on the bones of true crime, and neither genre suffers for the combination.
Frequently asked questions about books by Deborah Blum
What is Deborah Blum known for?
Deborah Blum is a nonfiction author and journalist best known for The Poisoner’s Handbook, investigative work built on years of reporting rather than a single dramatic revelation.
Is The Poisoner’s Handbook worth reading?
Yes — it’s the kind of book that rewards patience. Deborah Blum builds the case slowly and never resorts to sensationalism to hold your attention; the facts, laid out carefully, do that on their own.
What should I read after The Poisoner’s Handbook?
From the bookshelf
“The story is never really about the crime. It’s about what the crime reveals.”
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