WWI: When Agatha Christie Learned the Poisoner's Art

Poirot Suspects Poison

Agatha Christie used poison to kill her characters more often than any other crime fiction writer. How did she know all of this? The answer is that her knowledge came from direct experience with poisons and a lifelong interest in the subject, though not in the criminal sense. In the First World War, Christie volunteered as a nurse at her local hospital in Torquay. She enjoyed the work, but when a new dispensary opened at the hospital, it was suggested that she might work there. Her new role required further training, and Christie also needed to pass examinations to qualify as an apothecary’s assistant, or dispenser, which she did in 1917. Then and for many years afterward, doctors’ prescriptions were made up by hand in a chemist’s shop or hospital dispensary. Poisons and dangerous drugs were carefully weighed out and checked by colleagues before being dispensed. Innocuous ingredients such as coloring or flavoring could then be added according to personal taste. As Christie explained in her autobiography, this resulted in many people returning to the pharmacy to complain that their medicine didn’t look right, or didn’t taste as it usually did.

By 1917, Christie had written some poems and short stories, a few of which had been published. Then, after reading The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux, Christie thought she would try to write a detective novel herself and said as much to her sister, Madge. Madge, a more successful writer than Agatha at the time, stated that it would be very difficult, and bet her that she wouldn’t be able to do it. It was not a formal bet, but it spurred Christie to write. It was while working as a dispenser that she found she had the time to think about the plot and her characters, and, being surrounded by poison bottles, she decided that poison would be the means of murder. 

Agatha and Her First Novel

The resulting novel was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in which a certain Belgian refugee and policeman named Hercule Poirot was introduced to the world. Christie demonstrated her detailed knowledge of strychnine throughout the book. However, she had to wait a few years and try a number of publishing houses before the novel was  finally accepted in 1920. After publication Christie received her most cherished compliment when it was reviewed in The Pharmaceutical Journal. "This novel has the rare merit  of  being correctly written," the reviewer stated. He believed the author must have had pharmaceutical training or had called in an expert.

Inspired by Agatha fan, my beloved Donna Gaye.

Source: A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, by Kathryn Harkup, ORDER HERE