The Elements of a Mystery: Chemistry, Agatha Christie and WWI

The Elements of a Mystery: Chemistry, Agatha Christie and WWI comes to the National WWI Museum and Memorial this October, with two ways to catch it. The main session is a Zoom conference on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 PM Central, and there's an in-person event at the museum on Friday, Oct. 16, at 6:30 PM. Both are free with RSVP.

The whole thing is built around Agatha Christie's time as a nurse and pharmacist during the First World War. While she was serving, she worked with substances and situations that would eventually find their way into her plots. The session looks at the Queen of Crime's deep knowledge of drugs, medicines and poisons, and how that wartime experience fed her mysteries. It's a chance to see the real-world science that sat behind the scenes of her books.

Leading the session is Kathryn Harkup, a former chemist who turned to writing and science communication. She's written several books on the crossover between science, literature and pop culture, including A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie and V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death. The program invites you to spiral down into the science behind those wartime discoveries, with Harkup drawing on her background in chemistry to walk through the details.

If you're a fan of Christie's mysteries, this is a look at where the technical side of her writing came from. If you're more into the history, it's a window into the pharmacist's work during the war. You can join from home for the Zoom conference on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 PM Central, or head to the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City on Friday, Oct. 16, at 6:30 PM. Both are free with RSVP.