Poisons Used In Agatha Christie

Updated on September 29, 2013

Foul Toxins from the Queen of Crime

Poison has a certain appeal, wrote Agatha Christie in They Do It With Mirrors, it has not
the crudeness of the revolver bullet or the blunt instrument. Death by poison is more
frequent in Christies world than in the works of any other mystery writer. More than thirty
victims fall foul to a variety of toxins (while others survive attempted poisonings.) Christies
knowledge was extensive, a result of her work as both a nurse and a pharmacy dispenser
during both World Wars. (Perhaps this is why physicians often make an appearance as
murders in her novels.)

Some Common Poisons

Strychnine is used in Christies first who-dunnit, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. For a writer,
strychnine is an ideal poison, being easily absorbed with a rapid onset of action, and its
effects are impressively dramatic. An alkaloid derived from the seeds of the tree Strychnos
nux vomica, strychnine works as a competitive antagonist of glycine, an important inhibitory
neurotransmitter. Strychnine blocks motor neuron post-synaptic receptors in the spinal cords
central horn, antagonising inhibitory tone. Uncontrollable muscle contractions result,
classically beginning with trismus and risus sardonicus, then spreading distally, with
contractions increasing in frequency and intensity. Death occurs some two - three hours after
exposure, most commonly from respiratory failure compounded by lactic acidosis and
.rhabdomyalysis

Cyanide is the poison Christie used most often to dispatch her victims, (followed by arsenic,
strychnine, digitalis then morphine). Cyanide is derived from the seeds of the Prunus family,
(which includes cherries, apricots and almonds) and is rapidly lethal. It works as a
mitochondrial toxin, inhibiting cytochrome c oxidase in the electron transport chain, thus
preventing cells from aerobically using adenosine triphosphatefor energy. High
concentrations leads to death in minutes; the cyanide-haemoglobin complex can cause the
skin to remain pink (in contrast to the cherry-red of carbon-monoxide poisoning), despite
cellular hypoxia. Chronic ingestion causes a variety of symptoms ranging from generalised
weakness, confusion and bizarre behaviour, through to paralysis and liver failure. Cyanide
features in The Mirror Crackd from Side to Side , And Then There Were None , A Pocketful of
. Rye and, of course, Sparkling Cyanide

Arsenic, favoured by the Borgias, makes an appearance in 4.50 From Paddington. A tasteless,
odourless white powder, arsenic is minimally soluble in cold water but readily dissolves in hot
fluids such as tea or cocoa. Arsenic interferes with cellular longevity by inhibiting the
pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, resulting in cellular apoptosis. Acute exposure generally
manifests with watery diarrhoea, causing dehydration and hypovolaemic shock. Lactic
acidosis and hypokalaemia can also occur. Arrhythmias include QT prolongation and
ventircular fibrillation. Chronic toxicity is more insidious, with the clinical effects dependent
upon the length of exposure. Hyperkeratosis and Mees lines on the nails are classical, as is a
painful, glove-and-stocking paraesthesia. Hepatic and renal impairment may also result, and
.a patients breath often has a garlic smell

Unusual Poisons

In The Pale Horse, the murderer uses a coven of witches to curse victims, thus masking
deaths due to thallium (used in rat poison). Thallium can be absorbed topically, ingested or
inhaled, is colourless and tasteless, dissolves in water, and has a slow onset of vague
symptoms. The first signs are usually vomiting then diarrhoea, followed by a range of
neurological symptoms. A fatal cardiac toxicity occurs some three weeks after adequate
. exposure. Hair loss is also common - which triggers suspicion in The Pale Horse

In A Pocketful of Rye, marmalade is laced with taxine. (The murderer later puts cyanide in
another victims tea.) Derived from the leaves of the English yew tree, taxine has a bitter
taste. By disrupting microtubular function, it inhibits cell division. Death can be so rapid,
however, that the common signs of a staggering gait, seizures, respiratory failure and heart
failure may be missed. Most parts of the tree are toxic (save the aril surrounding the seeds,
.allowing distribution by birds without them being poisoned)

In Five Little Pigs, the painter Amyas Crale is murdered with coniine. An alkaloid extracted
from hemlock, coniine works peripherally as a neurotoxin, causing death by respiratory
paralysis. Less than two hundred micrograms is fatal; Socrates consumed this poison when
.condemned to death in 399BC for corrupting the youth of Athens

In Cards On The Table, a doctor murders his victim by contaminating his shaving brush with
bacillus anthracis, knowing the bacillus could pass transcutaneously through any nicks made
by the razor. In Dumb Witness, the victims liver pills are doctored with phosphorus. The hint
is given by the aura seen around the woman: the phosphoresence of her breath. Exposure
can also lead to phossy jaw, a severe necrosis common in workers in match factories, where
.white phosphorus was an early component. Severe liver damage can also result

Monkshood dispatches several victims in 4.50 From Paddington. Described by the Roman
naturalist Plinius as plant arsenic, it was once used to coat spears, prior to hunting panthers
and wolves. It was also reputed to also kill werewolves, (although other sources claim a brew
will prolong the lycanthropic condition when a werewolf is under the influence of the full
moon). The active component is aconitine, which causes salivation, followed by vomiting,
.diarrhoea, respiratory failure and cardiac arrest

Medical Poisons

Belladonna (also known as Deadly Nightshade, Devils Berries or Death Cherries) features in
The Caribbean Mystery and The Big Four. Foliage and berries are toxic, containing a mixture
of alkaloids including hyoscine (scopolamine) and atropine (both anti-cholinergic antimuscurinic in action) and hyoscyamine (an isomer of atropine). Both the Emperor Augustus
and Agrippina (wife and sister of Claudius) used belladonna to poison contemporaries.
Symptoms include dilated pupils, blurred vision, tachycardia, dry mouth, slurred speech,
.urinary retention, confusion and hallucinations

The anti-dote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine, which is itself used as a poison in
Crooked House, administered via eye drops. Derived from the West African calabar bean,
physostigmine is a cholinesterase inhibitor, reversibly blocking the action of

acetylcholinesterase in the synaptic cleft of the neuromuscular junction. Overdose results in

the cholinergic syndrome, due to central and peripheral increase of acetylcholine at
.muscurinic and nicotinic receptors

Morphine is another poison favoured by Christie. In Sad Cypress, morphine is administered

through, it is thought, fish paste on sandwiches; instead it is served in a pot of tea, the
murderer also drinking from the pot to ally suspicion, then surruptiously self-administrating
an emetic. In Death Comes As The End, (set in Ancient Egypt), the poison added to the wine
which kills Sobek is never discovered, but assumed to be the juice of the poppy. (The priestphysician tests the remaining wine on animals, all of which rapidly succumb.) The matriarch
.Esa meets her death by means of an ungent made of poisoned wool fat

Murder mysteries would be incomplete without the use of sleeping tablets. In Lord Edgware
Dies, Carlotta Adams meets her end due to an overdose of veronal. The first commercially
available barbiturate, veronal had a slightly bitter taste, and a therapeutic dose far below the
toxic dose. However, tolerance occurred with chronic use, requiring higher doses for effect,
.and fatal overdoses, either accidental or intentional, were not infrequent

The Death Of Hercule Poirot

Curtain, in which Poirot makes his final appearance, is a lesson in polypharmacy. (Poirot is the
only fictional character to have been given an obituary in The Times.) Freda Clay poisons her
aunt with morphine; Barbara Franklin is poisoned with physostigmine. Poirot drugs Hasting
hot chocolate with sleeping tablets (unnamed, but possibly veronal) to prevent him
committing murder; Mrs Franklin chooses the wrong coffee cup and dies from the poison she
had added to kill her own husband; Poirot laces two cups of coffee with his sleeping tablets,
so drugging Norton (who, suspecting, chooses Poirots cup) but not himself, as he is tolerant
to the tablets. After shooting Norton, Poirot himself dies, not by poison, but by its absence:
with terminal heart disease, Poirot places his supply of amyl nitrate out of reach, thus
.ensuring his own death during the night

Agatha Christies writing reflects English life from the end of WWI to well after the Second
World War. Despite the changing social mores, human nature is constant, and her writing
offers an historical-social insight into this time. Most of the poisons used by her murderers
were readily available, sometimes through their work, but more often to be found under the
kitchen sink, or growing amongst the beauty of an English country garden