Fly Paper (An Arsenic Story Told in Four Acts)

September 21,2024

I've asked myself why these particular poisonings -- in many ways average stories of greed and domestic unhappiness -- are so well-known in the history of poison homicides. And my theory has to do with the cold patience of these murderers, these poisoners slowly soaking the lethal dose out of fly paper, and waiting, waiting for the right opportunity. It's that quality -- that sense of the human spider carefully spinning out its web -- that makes the best poison cases so memorable..
I've asked myself why these particular poisonings -- in many ways average stories of greed and domestic unhappiness -- are so well-known in the history of poison homicides. And my theory has to do with the cold patience of these murderers, these poisoners slowly soaking the lethal dose out of fly paper, and waiting, waiting for the right opportunity. It's that quality -- that sense of the human spider carefully spinning out its web -- that makes the best poison cases so memorable.