Thompson's history begins with mythology and primitive man and continues into the 20th century. In between we discover the many types of poisons and their origins, including hemlock, hellebore, arsenic, strychnine, and stramonium; and the many men and women who have chosen deadly elixirs for their murder weapon. Thompson recounts many of the most famous cases of poisoning including the attempts on Queen Elizabeth's life; Catherine Wilson, who carried out a series of cold-blooded murders by poison; the Crippen case; Mary Blandly, who was as beautiful as she was deadly; and countless others.