In April 1876, Charles Bravo, a young London barrister, died in agony at his Balham home after ingesting a lethal dose of antimony. His death shocked Victorian society and set in motion one of the most baffling and sensational investigations of the 19th century. Despite two lengthy inquests, the question of who poisoned Charles Bravo […]
Agatha Christie and the unsolved murder of Charles Bravo
Which unsolved murder fascinated Agatha Christie so much that she decided to investigate it herself? Angela Buckley writes about the 1876 poisoning of Charles Bravo, also known as the Balham Mystery, still unsolved after 150 years. In Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence, while Dr MacMaster is trying to prove the wrongful conviction of Jack Argyle […]
The ‘ordinary’ Victorian murderess
Victorian women who killed have fascinated writers for over a century. What made the ‘angel in the house’ — a popular idea in the late 1850s — behave like a devil? Especially if they seemed, well, ordinary. Lesley McDowell, author of Love and Other Poisons, wonders what an ‘ordinary’ murderess was. “[She was] an ordinary, […]
A Poisoner’s Tale by Cathryn Kemp
Rome in 1656, and in the shadowy backstreets of the Eternal City lies an apothecary’s shop – a place for women to take their heartbreaks and troubles. Herbs for childbirth. Tarot readings to tell their fortunes. An undetectable poison that can kill in four drops. Alongside her circle of female poisoners, Giulia Tofana dispenses her […]
The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola
It’s Rome in 1659, and Girolama Spana lives west of the river Tiber in a house marked by a lily and a garden full of herbs. Many women in Rome seek her help — although they would never admit it — eager for her mysterious balms, her love potions, and her ability to predict their […]
Giulia Tofana: poisoner, murderer, saviour?
Giulia Tofana was a poisoner — but was she a murderer or a saviour, Cathryn Kemp asks. Her novel, A Poisoner’s Tale, is a dark retelling of Giulia’s story. She is the legendary serial killer you may not have heard of. Giulia Tofana, a woman famed for the undetectable poison she unleashed upon the unsuspecting […]
The Honey and the Sting: the novel that didn’t want to be written
What is it like when your novel just isn’t working? EC (Elizabeth) Fremantle had the perfect ingredients for a historical thriller: murder, sex, secrets, danger – but why did her first draft turn out to be unreadable? The Honey and the Sting is my sixth novel. I had the idea that writing would become easier […]
Five infamous female poisoners
EC (Elizabeth) Fremantle writes about five infamous female poisoners from the past in Historia magazine.