Presentation of pharmacological content in crime novels between 1890 and 2023

Abstract

As there is lack of research on how drugs are presented in crime literature, we read nearly 25,000 pages of crime literature written between 1890 and 2023 to provide an overview on the pharmacological content in this genre. Correct presentation of pharmacological information decreased over time. Misconceptions about certain substances, especially narcotics and anesthetics appear in many of the analyzed examples. Also, in comparison with crime TV series, books are inferior in providing the reader with additional information and pharmacological plausibility. This especially applies for the newer books which contained less additional information than the older ones. In contrast, some books educate their readers. Newer books show a greater variety of substances also introducing recently developed drugs or new ways of application. On the contrary, older books stick to a small selection of well-known substances during that time, especially metals like arsenic and toxins like strychnine. Gender involvement in poisoning is not realistically presented in the novels. Male victims are overrepresented compared to reality. Also, the etiology is commonly presented incorrectly. Poisoning by accident or for suicidal purposes are rarely presented in the novels, despite their significance in reality. Overall, crime novels educate but also misinform their readers. We discuss the consequences of our findings for the individual reader and public health.

Keywords: Drugs; Fiction-reality comparison; Literature; Poisoning; Public Health.

Fig. 1

Shows the procedure used for analyzing the novels in a flow chart

Fig. 2

Designation of the active pharmacological substances. The designation of pharmacological substances in all books shown in a pie chart by percentage value

Fig. 3

Absolute mentioning of substances by substance categories in all literature, bar chart

Fig. 4

Substance presentation. The pie chart shows the presentation of substances with percentage value for all cases

Fig. 5

Substance application. Pie chart with percentage value of all cases. The categories are presented with different colors for each application form

Fig. 6

Outcome of poisoning by percentage value in a pie chart

Fig. 7

Etiology of poisoning shown in a pie chart. All cases are included. The categories are presented with different colors for each category of etiology that we found. Figure S6 shows the etiology of poisoning for the different time categories analyzed

Fig. 8

Gender analysis of all cases by percentage value. The genders of offenders and victims involved in criminal poisoning cases are presented. It is shown for the novels we analyzed and data from reality. Males are represented by the blue columns and females by the yellow columns. Not assignable cases are shown with grey columns. Transgender persons were not found in the novels analyzed and are therefore not part of this chart

Fig. 9

Mechanism of action provided. The pie chart shows if a mechanism if actions was provided. It includes all cases

Fig. 10

Additional pharmacological information such as on symptoms, latency times or dosage provided. The pie chart shows the percentage value for all cases

Fig. 11

Pharmacological plausibility of all cases by percentage value. The plausibility is shown in a bar chart. A comparison chart between older and newer cases can be found in the supplement (Figure S11)

Fig. 12

Pharmacological plausibility of commonly used substances. The total count of substances over all novels is shown. The plausible fraction of cases within the column is marked yellow whereas the implausible fraction of cases involving the particular substance is marked red

Fig. 13

Pharmacological plausibility by author. The chart shows all authors included in the analysis.