OK - I'll come clean(ish). I've discovered the very early death of a young woman, and am told that she killed herself by drinking poison. Her husband (by whom she fell pregnant when she was barely 16 and not yet married) apparently had an eye for the ladies because at exactly the same time as the birth of their middle child, his girlfriend also gave birth to a child. The lady died at 22, husband promptly married girlfriend, and they carried on to have several more children (one of them my stepfather). Everyone concerned is now dead.
Now, as I'm sure you can imagine, that has my nose twitching all over the place. Drinking poison usually results in a spectacularly awful death unless the poison is very carefully chosen - but this girl was certainly no chemist. There were many other suicide methods open to her, most of them much less painful. However, assuming this was a genuine suicide, it would mean that she would have had to recognise whatever she took as a fatal poison and it would have had to be openly available. Hence my initial question.
I don't have to tell you what the alternative to suicide is, do I? This has all the makings of a case fit for Poirot. But before I go charging off looking for the report on the inquest, I just wanted to get a few basics inside my head.
Oh, the joys of genealogy!
EDIT: Just in case anyone develops a natural curiosity, I would rather deal with any personal details via PM - there are other children of the second marriage who are still alive and, on the off chance that they're reading this, I wouldn't wish to upset any of them.
Mike