“Even Stopper Death”: Harry Potter, Potions, Poisons, and Plants

Poison and poisoners provide sensational stories for avid consumers of fiction and non-fiction alike. Real-life criminal trials involving death by poison (particularly when administered by a woman) frequently make headlines, with the public becoming caught up in a moral panic about the insidious nature of poison and the method by which it is delivered. Indeed, more broadly, stories (and images) of crime have always fascinated society, and have become a staple of 'entertainment' and 'leisure activities, especially 'passive leisure' activities, such as reading, watching television, computer games and cinema going (Mawby 2012, 1). Since the nineteenth century, there has been 'an appetite for crime stories' with street peddlers frequently selling 'broadsides to the lower classes for their reading pleasure' (Clifford and White 2017, 202), and this appetite has continued to grow with crime dominating all forms of fiction, even frequently creeping into children's literature.