Murder ahoy: do all poisons kill instantaneously?

By Jonathan Hare2008-09-01T00:00:00

On screen chemistry with Jonathan Hare

In many films and TV thrillers someone gets poisoned and they die instantly. But could a poison really kill someone so quickly?

Miss Marple investigates

In the film Murder ahoy - Agatha Christie's Miss Marple classic - a woman is seen murdered instantly when she injures her hand on a mouse trap coated in curare. Curare, an extract of the South American plant Chondodendrum tomentosum, is a well-known poison.

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