Sponsored by Size Zero by Abigail Mangin.
Condom dresses and space helmets have debuted on fashion runways. A dead body becomes the trend when a coat made of human skin saunters down fashion’s biggest stage. The body is identified as Annabelle Leigh, the teenager who famously disappeared over a decade ago from her boyfriend’s New York City mansion. This new evidence casts suspicion back on the former boyfriend, Cecil LeClaire. Now a monk, he is forced to return to his dark and absurd childhood home to clear his name. He teams up with Ava Germaine, a renegade ex-model. And together, they investigate the depraved and lawless modeling industry behind Cecil’s family fortune.
Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!
This week’s pick is a fascinating nonfiction title, The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum!
I bought this book years ago, and there it sat on my shelf gathering dust until I finally cracked it open earlier this year and WOW, I can’t believe I waited so long! It follows the history of forensic medicine in New York City, first giving readers an overview of how early chemistry, poison, and crime unfolded in society until scientific discovery at the turn of the century finally, finally allowed scientists to identify and prove when poisonous substances were found in humans–and allow them to detect and fight crime. Of course, then the trouble was in developing a system of investigation, examination, and scientific review that would help law enforcement catch and prosecute criminals–no small task in the corrupt city departments. Enter Charles Norris, the man who would become New York City’s groundbreaking medical examiner, and his recruit, toxicologist Alexander Gettler. Together the two men reformed their departments, contributed to science, and changed how we understand poison.
What I loved about this book was how Blum framed everything to tell a story that captures your attention–from the chapters that are named after a different poison plaguing society and the scientific communities to exploring various pivotal cases that Norris and Gettler encountered, there is never a dull moment in this book. It reads as breathlessly as a thriller and is never short on twists, interesting crimes, and surprising developments. Honestly, reading this book might make you keenly aware of your own mortality (how did any of our ancestors survive when beauty products full of radium were once on the market?), but it will also give you a deeper appreciation for the systems that we have in place and the scientific advancements that make our every day life safer and healthier. Blum does this in such a way that goes beyond what most of us know from that one time we had to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Even if you aren’t a science reader, there is so much here about history, politics, every day life, crime, and justice that you’re sure to find an entry point into this fascinating book! I can’t wait to check out more books that Blum has written!
I’m also eager to check out American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI, which looks at another forensic scientist working at about the same time, but on the opposite coast, in Berkeley, CA!
Happy reading!
Tirzah
Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.
If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.