Overview

Agatha Christie and the Guilty Pleasure of Poison examines Christie’s female poisoners in the context of Christie’s 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 Christie’s 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.

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9783031160028

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Reviews

​Nominated by Content Prize Committee for International Crime Fiction Association, Second Runner Up Selection, 2022“Agatha Christie and the Guilty Pleasure of Poison, Sylvia A. PamboukianThis book has the lovely premise of Christie’s female poisoners as outlaws; rebels, justified seekers of revenge and retribution. Conducting useful comparisons with other iconic authors this book is full of interest. Following the current trend that sees Christie as a pioneer interested in subversion rather than conservative, reactionary and formulaic this book gives an exciting and unexpected reading of her work.” (Ruth Heholt, Linda Ledford-Miller and Kerstin-Anja Münderlein, ICFA - International Crime Fiction Association Newsletter, October, 2023)

Author Information

Formerly a pharmacist, Dr. Sylvia A. Pamboukian is a professor of English at Robert Morris University near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is the author of Doctoring the Novel: Medicine and Quackery from Shelley to Doyle, and her research and teaching interests include British literature, detective fiction, the Victorian Gothic, and the health humanities.

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