The husband poisoner : suburban women who killed in post-World War II Sydney / Tanya Bretherton.
Publication details: Sydney, NSW : Hachette Australia, 2021.Description: 311 pages ; 24 cmISBN:- 9780733642456 (paperback)
- Husband poisoner : suburban women who killed in post-World War II Sydney
- 1900-1999
- Mariticide
- Murder
- Poisoning
- Women
- Women murderers
- True crime stories
- Murderers -- New South Wales -- Sydney -- 20th century
- Women murderers -- New South Wales -- Sydney -- 20th century
- Poisoning -- New South Wales -- Sydney -- 20th century
- Husbands -- Death -- Case studies
- Women murderers -- Australia -- History -- 20th century
- Murder -- Australia -- History -- 20th century -- Case studies
- Mariticide -- Australia -- History -- 20th century -- Case studies
- Poisoning -- Australia -- 20th century -- Case studies
- Women -- Australia -- History -- 20th century
- Australia
- Sydney (N.S.W.) -- History -- 20th century
- Australian
- 364.1523
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item reserves | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Melbourne Athenaeum Library | Non-Fiction | 364.152 BRE | Available | 063199 |
Includes bibliographical references.
Shocking real-life stories of murderous women who used rat poison to rid themselves of husbands and other inconvenient family members. For readers of compelling history and true crime, from critically acclaimed author Tanya Bretherton. After World War II, Sydney experienced a crime wave that was chillingly calculated. Discontent mixed with despair, greed with callous disregard. Women who had lost their wartime freedoms headed back into the kitchen with sinister intent and the household poison thallium, normally used to kill rats, was repurposed to kill husbands and other inconvenient family members. Yvonne Fletcher disposed of two husbands. Caroline Grills cheerfully poisoned her stepmother, a family friend, her brother and his wife. Unlike arsenic or cyanide, thallium is colourless, odourless and tasteless; victims were misdiagnosed as insane malingerers or ill due to other reasons. And once one death was attributed to natural causes, it was all too easy for an aggrieved woman to kill again. This is the story of a series of murders that struck at the very heart of domestic life. It's the tale of women who looked for deadly solutions to what they saw as impossible situations. The Husband Poisoner documents the reasons behind the choices these women made - and their terrible outcomes.