Audio Sample Link
Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award Winner
Amazon Editors' Pick
Publisher"s weekly starred audio:
"Blum’s spine-tingling thriller about early 20th-century poisoners, their innovations in undetectable killing methods, and New York City’s first medical examiner and toxicologist who documented the telltale signs of poisoning is given a theatrical twist in Coleen Marlo’s reading. Her voice is smoky and tinged with humor, irony, and light mocking as she revisits the rudimentary methods of the murder and equally rudimentary science of the Jazz Age. She’s an able guide to the science and her voices are pitch-perfect--especially her humorously masculine characterizations of Blum’s male subjects." A Penguin Press hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 14). (Mar.)
Pulitzer Prize winner Deborah Blum’s fascinating study of the birth of forensic medicine is a finalist for the Audie Award in nonfiction, and narrator Coleen Marlo is one excellent reason. Marlo’s voice is pleasant; her delivery, cool and compelling.....Blum’s spirited prose and well-researched science and Marlo’s intelligent performance make this nonfiction production seem like a series of powerful short stories. AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2011]
"With the pacing and rich characterization of a first-rate suspense novelist, Blum makes science accessible and fascinating." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review
"Not only is The Poisoner's Handbook as thrilling as any CSI episode, but it also offers something even better: an education in how forensics really works." ---The Washington Post
"[A]n inventive history that, like arsenic mixed into blackberry pie, goes down with ease." ---The New York Times
