Death by Chocolate

Chocolate, completely delicious and impossible to resist… but deadly?

Revealed in historic papers, a Nazi plot to kill Sir Winston Churchill with a bar of exploding chocolate during the Second World War illustrates how seriously a chocoholic’s love can be turned against them. We take a look at some of the best examples in crime novels of food related tragedies!

 

Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl

A nice juicy roast leg of lamb sounds perfect as a family favourite on Easter Sunday? Think again – in this devilish short, the frozen leg of lamb proves the ultimate murder weapon. This is a great short story that encapsulates all of Dahl’s wit and dark humour.
 
 

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie.

Poirot is on the case of this fiendish murderer. If you can’t order a two pound box of Fuller’s Chocolates without worrying about whether the centres have been mixed with cocaine, then it’s a very poor state of affairs! Agatha Christie was a big fan of poison having worked as a Pharmacy Dispenser using it to do away with over 30 victims in the course of her 66 novels. A Murder is Announced, features the famous Delicious Death Cake in it, which contrary to its name is completely harmless!
 
 
The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley

Sir Eustace is a cad of the first water, with a specialty in other men’s wives, and the list of people who might want to do him in could fill a London phone book. So who sent him the mysterious box of chocolates with their hidden ingredient. A group of armchair detectives featuring Roger Sheringham get together in their ‘crime circle’ to try and solve his murder.
 
 
Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell

In this, the first novel by the great Gladys to feature amateur sleuth and Psychiatrist Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, it is deemed unwise to be too fond of beverages late at night. If only caffeine was the only harmful element in an evening cup of coffee.
 
 
 
Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers

A fine example of why having pots of money isn’t always the best thing to advertise if you want to stay alive. Especially if you’ve made a will and have greedy relatives. In this outing, Lord Peter Wimsey must save Harriet Venn from the hangman’s noose after she’s been accused of slowly poisoning her former lover to death with arsenic. But if Harriet didn’t do it, who did?
 
 

A Shroud for a Nightingale by PD James

Just goes to show that not even hard liquor is safe in this whodunit from PD James. Set in a nursing home, Inspector Dalgleish is called in to investigate the mysterious deaths of two student nurses. Whisky is sadly the vehicle for this killer’s dastardly aims.
 
 

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Thrown in here because Alan Bradley’s junior amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce is a brilliant chemist with a specialty in poisons. Not exactly a food stuff but this book gets an honourable mention for Flavia’s use of poison ivy inside her sister’s lipstick causing her face to swell up. If you’ve had irritating siblings you will fully appreciate the genius of this move!

 

So there you have it, these books may put you off your lunch but we’re sure the sirens song of chocolate can’t be put off for long…!

If you like a little less death with your chocolate why not head on over to the Happy Foodie and check out their fondant filled Easter Egg recipe!