We all know that chocolate can be lovely but it definitely has a darker side and I’m not referring to the amount of cocoa solids there are in a single bar. In this episode I am joined by author Dr Alessandra Pino, who has co-written the forthcoming Gothic Cookbook, and food writer and novelist Sue Lawrence (check out the links below to Sue’s books) to explore how chocolate has been used in the past as a vehicle for poison (mostly by women). Hell hath no fury, as they say..

Useful Links

Allie Pino on Twitter and Instagram

Fear Feasts Podcast & Instagram

A Gothic Cookbook co-authored with Ella Buchan

Romancing the Gothic with Dr Sam Hirst

Sue Lawrence on Twitter

Sue’s cookbooks include A Taste of Scotland's Islands (plus many more). Sue also has a new book on Scottish Baking out in August 2024.

Sue’s novels include:

Lady’s Rock (out March 2024)

The Unreliable Death of Lady Grange

The Green Lady

Down To The Sea

Suggested Reading/Listening

If you’d like to find out more about the two murder cases discussed in this episode take a listen to Lucy Worsley’s Lady Killers Podcasts on Madeleine Smith and Christiana Edmonds.

The Phantom Thread movie which features a poisoned mushroom omelette

The Philosophy of Chocolate by Sam Bilton

The Christiana Edmonds case was the inspiration for The Black Spectacles by John Dixon Carr

Australian Poison Mushroom Case by Bill Chappell on NPR

The Chocolate Box by Agatha Christie

The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders

Stephen Fry on the enduring appeal of Georgette Heyer

Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

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