Agatha Christie and the Guilty Pleasure of Poison [Hardcover]

Agatha Christie and the Guilty Pleasure of Poison examines Christies female poisoners in the context of Christies own experience in pharmacy and of detective fiction. In doing so, it uncovers an overlooked dynamic in which female poisoners deliver well-deserved comeuppance for gendered and classed wrongdoing ordinarily accepted in everyday life. While critics have long recognized male outlaws, like Robin Hood, who use crime to oppose a corrupt system, this book contends that female outlaws  witches and poisoners  offer a similar heritage of empowered femininity. Far from cozy and formulaic, Agatha Christies outlaw poisoners offer readers the surprising pleasures of comeuppance, and they set the stage for contemporary detective fiction writers, more recent films depicting poisoning as empowering, and even poison gardens, which are tourist destinations that offer visitors the guilty pleasure of poison.1. Agatha Christie, Poison, and Crime.- 2. Agatha Christie and Pharmacy.- 3. Dying Game: Unrepentant Outlaws in Christie and Doyle.- 4. Cheering Bystanders in Christie and Sayers.- 5. The Revengers Comeuppance in Christie and Jackson.- 6. The Poisoners Afterlives.- 7. Readers and the Poison Garden.Nominated by Content Prize Committee for International Crime Fiction Association, Second Runner Up Selection, 2022