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Molecules of Murder: Criminal Molecules and Classic Cases
Molecules of Murder is about infamous murderers and famous victims; about people like Harold Shipman, Alexander Litvinenko, Adelaide Bartlett, and Georgi Markov. Few books on poisons analyse these crimes from the viewpoint of the poison itself, doing so throws a new light on how the murders or attempted murders were carried out and ultimately how the perpetrators were uncovered and brought to justice. Part I includes molecules which occur naturally and were originally used by doctors before becoming notorious as murder weapons. Part II deals with unnatural molecules, mainly man-made, and they too have been dangerously misused in famous crimes. The book ends with the most famous poisoning case in recent years, that of Alexander Litvinenko and his death from polonium chloride. The first half of each chapter starts by looking at the target molecule itself, its discovery, its history, its chemistry, its use in medicine, its toxicology, and its effects on the human body. The second half then investigates a famous murder case and reveals the modus operandi of the poisoner and how some were caught, some are still at large, and some literally got away with murder. Molecules of Murder will explain how forensic chemists have developed cunning ways to detect minute traces of dangerous substances, and explain why some of these poisons, which appear so life-threatening, are now being researched as possible life-savers. Award winning science writer John Emsley has assembled another group of true crime and chemistry stories to rival those of his highly acclaimed Elements of Murder.
274 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2008
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662 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 9, 2022
On the face of it, this is not a book for the layperson; written by a highly qualified chemist, Dr John Emsley, formerly of Imperial College London, and Cambridge University.
However, the gruesome subject matter in the hands of such a skilled communicator makes for compelling reading.
Its ten case studies include the radioactive ‘polonium tea’ served up to Alexander Litvinenko; the ‘ricin-tipped umbrella assassination’ of Georgi Markov; and the terrifying campaign of American nurse and prodigious serial killer Kristen Gilbert, whose molecule of choice was paradoxically the life-saver adrenaline.
Closer to home for me is the tale of Dr Paul Agutter, jailed for the attempted murder of his wife. He laced her gin and tonic with atropine, the active ingredient of Deadly Nightshade.
Even closer is that my best friend (who gave me the book) worked under Dr Agutter as a toxicology research student at Napier University, Edinburgh.
Dr Agutter went to extraordinary lengths to cover his tracks, placing a dozen mildly contaminated bottles of tonic water in the local Safeway supermarket. The idea was to appear to be a random victim of a poison-blackmail plot against the store chain.
But even more extraordinary was when randomness defied the odds – and one of the collateral victims was a consultant anaesthetist who recognised the symptoms of atropine poisoning!
Indeed, the unravelling of the crimes is as absorbing as the audacity of their perpetrators. As an avid reader of traditional detective fiction, where arsenic and strychnine loom large, at times I had to pinch myself that these accounts were real. Not least when there are chapter headings that come straight from the lexicon of Agatha Christie, such as ‘Paraquat and the Poisoned Gravy’.
A must-read for every budding crime-writer!
However, the gruesome subject matter in the hands of such a skilled communicator makes for compelling reading.
Its ten case studies include the radioactive ‘polonium tea’ served up to Alexander Litvinenko; the ‘ricin-tipped umbrella assassination’ of Georgi Markov; and the terrifying campaign of American nurse and prodigious serial killer Kristen Gilbert, whose molecule of choice was paradoxically the life-saver adrenaline.
Closer to home for me is the tale of Dr Paul Agutter, jailed for the attempted murder of his wife. He laced her gin and tonic with atropine, the active ingredient of Deadly Nightshade.
Even closer is that my best friend (who gave me the book) worked under Dr Agutter as a toxicology research student at Napier University, Edinburgh.
Dr Agutter went to extraordinary lengths to cover his tracks, placing a dozen mildly contaminated bottles of tonic water in the local Safeway supermarket. The idea was to appear to be a random victim of a poison-blackmail plot against the store chain.
But even more extraordinary was when randomness defied the odds – and one of the collateral victims was a consultant anaesthetist who recognised the symptoms of atropine poisoning!
Indeed, the unravelling of the crimes is as absorbing as the audacity of their perpetrators. As an avid reader of traditional detective fiction, where arsenic and strychnine loom large, at times I had to pinch myself that these accounts were real. Not least when there are chapter headings that come straight from the lexicon of Agatha Christie, such as ‘Paraquat and the Poisoned Gravy’.
A must-read for every budding crime-writer!
January 11, 2021
it was alright, though i was hoping for a lot more biochemistry than what was on offer. some messy editing, especially in the (final) polonium chapter. short and worth a read.
July 12, 2021
A fun little book, combining true crime with history and chemistry. Probably too nerdy for most readers, but tough to put down for a true nerd.
December 10, 2019
This book was really easy to read. While it may not be the shortest or (at times) the most well worded, it is an easy-to-understand and fun way of describing poisons and informing people of their deadliness and chemical properties. It also holds a lot of value in the story-telling department, with many different cases that are really fascinating and fun to read. This book also does very well at showing off the properties of each chemical, who discovered it, and the more depressing fact of how it was used and affected the victims.
My favorite cases were about Atropine and Morphine/Diamorphine. They both displayed how the chemicals are deadly but still, at one point, had their own innocent uses. Atropine was once something for women to make themselves look a certain way, and morphine was one just a pain killer and nothing more. While it is a shame to see how they developed a bad reputation as the years went by, it was very interesting to watch how the stories of each unfolded. With atropine being hard to detect but incredibly bitter, to morphine being the almost complete opposite (easy to detect, but not typically ingested to no real taste).
Overall, I really did enjoy this book!
My favorite cases were about Atropine and Morphine/Diamorphine. They both displayed how the chemicals are deadly but still, at one point, had their own innocent uses. Atropine was once something for women to make themselves look a certain way, and morphine was one just a pain killer and nothing more. While it is a shame to see how they developed a bad reputation as the years went by, it was very interesting to watch how the stories of each unfolded. With atropine being hard to detect but incredibly bitter, to morphine being the almost complete opposite (easy to detect, but not typically ingested to no real taste).
Overall, I really did enjoy this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2017
Very clear writing in this one and everything ancillary is pushed to the glossary, but the bolded terms don't occur as frequently in this book compared to the rest of his work. Written for the layperson, each section describes a substance, its effects, and then relates a few forensic cases to illustrate its use. This is the last Emsley book I'll read, so I'll miss his Britishness and excellent descriptions.
July 15, 2017
Very informative.
March 28, 2018
Very well written, informative, and easy to read even for those who don't practice chemistry.
November 28, 2021
A very entertaining balance of science and scandal; must read for anyone interested in forensic science
August 1, 2023
Fascinating!
December 30, 2010
I am chemist by trade and when I saw this book pop up on Amazon Vine I thought I would get it and give it a read. It is a fascinating book. Anyone interested in chemistry, forensics, or even poisons would find this book fascinating; you don't need a technical background.
This book covers 5 poisons found in nature and 5 man-made poisons. Each chapter is very nicely structured and goes through how the poison was discovered, how the poison affects the human body, what remedies there are, and then goes through a case study where the poison was used to murder someone. In some chapters there are sections that give statistics on the number of poisonings with a given poison and how many of these are accidental.
The only parts that might require some technical knowledge are the chemical descriptions of the poisons and how the poison reacts with the enzymes (or whatever) in the human body. Even these parts of the book are presented in such a fashion that someone without a depth of technical knowledge gets a lot out of them.
The book is very well-written. I was worried this would be more of a dry technical read but it wasn't. I was sucked in right from the beginning and had trouble putting the book down. I really, really enjoyed it.
This is not something you would want to use as a handbook for poisoning because for the majority of cases the poisons go wrong and/or the poisoners get caught. My husband did want to know exactly why I need to read a book about poisons. I told him it was in self-defense :-)
Overall a great book. I will definitely keep an eye out for more books from this author. A colleague of mine actually heard John Emsley do a talk on forensic chemistry at an American Chemical Society meeting; supposedly he is also a great speaker.
This book covers 5 poisons found in nature and 5 man-made poisons. Each chapter is very nicely structured and goes through how the poison was discovered, how the poison affects the human body, what remedies there are, and then goes through a case study where the poison was used to murder someone. In some chapters there are sections that give statistics on the number of poisonings with a given poison and how many of these are accidental.
The only parts that might require some technical knowledge are the chemical descriptions of the poisons and how the poison reacts with the enzymes (or whatever) in the human body. Even these parts of the book are presented in such a fashion that someone without a depth of technical knowledge gets a lot out of them.
The book is very well-written. I was worried this would be more of a dry technical read but it wasn't. I was sucked in right from the beginning and had trouble putting the book down. I really, really enjoyed it.
This is not something you would want to use as a handbook for poisoning because for the majority of cases the poisons go wrong and/or the poisoners get caught. My husband did want to know exactly why I need to read a book about poisons. I told him it was in self-defense :-)
Overall a great book. I will definitely keep an eye out for more books from this author. A colleague of mine actually heard John Emsley do a talk on forensic chemistry at an American Chemical Society meeting; supposedly he is also a great speaker.
September 24, 2008
This non-fiction book covers ten different types of poison, five natural and five man-made. Both historic and modern crimes are detailed, plus the author goes into scientific detail about the compostion, origin, and some history of these toxic substances. Also discussed, are their medical uses, symptoms of poisoning from each, and some very interesting side details.
The poisons included are ricin, hyoscine, atropine, diamorphine, adrenaline, chloroform, carbon monoxide, cyanide, paraquat, and polonium. An example of an interestion bit of information is that Queen Victoria used the then new drug chlorform while delivering both Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice.
The poisons included are ricin, hyoscine, atropine, diamorphine, adrenaline, chloroform, carbon monoxide, cyanide, paraquat, and polonium. An example of an interestion bit of information is that Queen Victoria used the then new drug chlorform while delivering both Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice.
May 21, 2014
This book, while fascinating and extremely well written, took me a lot longer to read than fiction books tend to do. This is probably be due to my thoroughly unsciencey mind and, although very interested in the topic, my impatience with anything non-fiction. The stories, however, were very well told and I was fascinated with the methods of the poisoners, although I did have my doubts about the guilt of one or two of the examples given.
December 2, 2010
If you have any interest in poisons and how they work chemically and biologically, this book will entrance you. Each chapter informs the reader about one common poison. The author adds narrative accounts of famous poisonings to illustrate his chemical and biological explanations of the poisons and how they work in our bodies.
July 4, 2009
Another good read by John Emsley. He makes the chemistry of these murderous molecules accessible and at the same time tells a good story on the history of the molecule and famous murder cases it played a role in. The only criticism I have is that he picked so few molecules.
July 3, 2009
Kind of slow moving. This is the second time I have picked up this book to read it, and this time I made it through. The content itself is fascinating, but the text can be dry and academic, making it a slower read than it need be.
October 13, 2008
Picked this one up at ACS. The author gave a presentation and signed books. Pretty good so far.
August 13, 2012
Like "Elements of Murder" but about molecules. Also, written in a slightly more academic and less colorful style than the other.
Want to read
April 7, 2013As seen at the 2009 Fall American Chemical Society meeting.
April 15, 2013
John Emsley hits it right on the spot . Simply couldn't put it down . 3 hrs of pure spine-tingling adrenaline. You'll know what I mean when you read past chapter 6 . :D
October 25, 2015
Pretty good in terms of keeping things interesting without getting too technical, but still definitely a book about serious chemistry.
Read
December 10, 2015good book
August 23, 2023
This is a book for you if you are interested in poisons and famous uses of them against people. There are serial poisoners. One pope was poisoned by his predecessor and died in 1047. Good grief.
April 9, 2017
A great read for all Chemists. The stories covered were very interesting. There should be an additional chapter on the assassination of King Jong Nam.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews