What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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► UNSOLVED: One specific book > Adult Mystery, Short Stories. Mostly murders often with grim twists. Botulism as murder weapon in a few stories, incl. cheating husband. Read in 1990s.

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message 1: by Emlen (new)

Emlen | 51 comments This was a collection of mystery short stories, I think by multiple authors (maybe some kind of year's best collection or similar?). I read it in hardcover some time between 1995 and 1999; might have been written earlier, but probably not much earlier.
The stories were generally murder plots, often with grim twists at the end. The only detail that stays with me is that in at least two of the stories, someone tries to poison someone else with a botulism-tainted can of food. I think in one of them the cheating husband hears on the news about a batch of tainted cans, notices a bloated can in his pantry, and thinks it'll be the perfect crime to "accidentally" serve it to his wife - but then through some misunderstanding, his mistress uses it to make a meal for him instead. Something like that, anyway.
But I mainly remember it because (a) I think I hadn't heard of botulism before reading this collection, and (b) it was so weird that multiple stories (at least two, and I *think* at least three) used the same make-it-look-like-an-accidental-botulism-poisoning plot. Was that a fad in the mystery genre? Was this collection sponsored by the CDC? I have no idea.


message 2: by Emlen (new)

Emlen | 51 comments bump


message 3: by Kris (new)

Kris | 54958 comments Mod
Emlen, I added a few details to the header/topic title at the top of the page, so your book might be recognized from that description alone. Many members only read the headers.

You can update it by clicking the small "edit" link after the header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app. (On the Mobile website, click the "Desktop version" link at the bottom of the page.)


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