Edgar Award Best Novel Winner

A Dram of Poison

by Charlotte Armstrong

Summary

A lonely professor, fearing he may harm his new wife in a fit of despair, carries a bottle of poison onto a city bus and then loses track of it. Charlotte Armstrong turns the frantic search for the missing poison into a warm and suspenseful story about a band of strangers drawn together by a shared crisis. The novel blends domestic anxiety with an oddly hopeful view of human kindness.

Historical Context & Significance

It won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1957, one of several honors Charlotte Armstrong received during her career.