I reviewed Murder by the Book a little while back, but to be honest, I only stumbled upon it because I was looking for this – The Inheritor’s Powder. In The Inheritor’s Powder, Sandra Hempel takes us through the murder of George Bodle, and through that murder, the history of arsenic as a poison and forensic science. If it sounds like a broad topic, it is.
The murder of George Bodle is surprisingly complicated. The Bodle family fell ill one morning, with George Bodle being the only one who eventually perished. The doctor, suspecting arsenic, took samples. There were detectives, and there were new arsenic tests being used. Yet despite all that work, there wasn’t a satisfactory ending.
Why? Well, as Hempel writes, forensic science and the history of doctors as professional forensic witnesses was still very young. So despite the best efforts of the doctor, the science wasn’t at an age to conclusively prove who the murderer was. But what this murder did do was to help stoke the fear of poison, arsenic in particular.
In this way, the book ties together the histories of several different subjects – the history of arsenic as a poison, the history of forensic science (and testifying) and the Bodle mystery. As you can expect, it’s pretty hard to tie so many stories together. What The Inheritor’s Powder does is to tell the story of the Bodle family, and when appropriate, diverge from the story to talk about the other topics. It’s not perfect – to me, it broke the flow a few times – but overall, it works. I managed to get an overview of all the different histories of the various subjects.
By the way, if you’re looking for a great ending to the Bodle mystery, you might be a bit disappointed. Unlike other stories, such as Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane, where the author makes an educated guess as to who the murderer is if there isn’t a conclusive answer, The Inheritor’s Powder seems content to leave the mystery where it is. The book does follow the stories of the various Bodle members after the trial, but it doesn’t go into the question of who did it and/or why. It seems that the Bodle mystery was used more as a way to structure the book rather than being the main focus.
Overall, though, this is a pretty fascinating book. If you’re interested in the history of arsenic poisoning, testing, and how forensic science developed, you may be interested in this. It mentions quite a few other murders apart from the Bodle mystery too, if you’re interested in other stories of arsenic poisoning.