Sex, lies and arsenic: how the 'king of poisons' lost its crown

Kate Griffin, author of the Kitty Peck novels set in the criminal underworld of Victorian London, examines the nineteenth century origins of toxicology

Poison is a deliciously evil word. Say it now - purse your lips and savour the shape, if not the taste, of those sleek, fat vowels filling your mouth. Quite thrilling, isn't it?

The Victorians couldn't get enough of it, metaphorically speaking. Nothing appealed more to an increasingly literate public than lurid newspaper reports of murder trials involving poison, especially if the suspect was female. And if the suspect was female and attractive sales would rocket.