Finger-Licking Poison: Difference between revisions

Other seemingly innocent lickable objects, such as stamps or envelopes, are also popular.

 

 

Related to, but separate from, [[Poisoned Weapons]]. The murderer may use a [[Perfect Poison]] to do the job. Not to be confused with a [[Fingertip Drug Analysis]], though less-subtle examples may rely on the victim trying one.

{{examples}}

* ''[[The Name of the Rose]]'': In an attempt to keep {{spoiler|[[Aristotle]]'s ''Poetics''}} hidden, an evil monk poisons the page corners so anyone who reads it will die before they can tell others about it.

* [[Older Than Print]]: ''[[Arabian Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'' tale ''The Tale of the Vizier and the Sage Duban'', wherein the Duban, sentenced to execution by a treacherous king, gives him a book with orders not to read it until after his head has been cut off. After that's done, the head comes back to life and instructs the king to turn three pages with his left hand. When the king turns the pages (naturally, licking his finger along the way) and finds nothing written there, the Duban essentially tells him the pages were poisoned and if the Duban had to go, he was [[Taking You with Me|taking the king with him]]. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for a [[Losing Your Head|severed head]]. (Unfortunately, this makes the vizier who ''caused'' the execution a [[Karma Houdini]], as he didn't touch the book and sure as hell wouldn't after seeing what happened to his king.)

* This technique is mentioned in ''[[Bridge of Birds]]'', with the added element that the books in question were pornographic.

* Classic example: in Alexandre Dumas' ''[[La Reine Margot]]'' (AKA ''Marguerite de Valois''), poisoned book is used in attempt on King Henry of Navarre's life, but the plan backfires with disastrous results. Earlier in the same novel, even more devious plan to poison Henry via his paramour's lipstick is employed {{spoiler|but thwarted by the would-be poisoner who couldn't murder said paramour in cold blood}}.

 

* ''[[Eleventh Hour|11th Hour]]'' used this one early in its first (only?) season.

* In the ''[[CSI New York]]'' episode"Page Turner", the killer coats the pages of a book in thallium to poison his victims.

 

* In the old TV show, ''[[Jacob Two Two]]'', a bad guy puts into motion a plot to kill people via this method. {{spoiler|He fails}}

 

* In ''[[Case Closed]]'', a man was murdered via {{spoiler|poison applied to the temperature control of a cooking range on which a pot of water was boiling, after which he counted money and licked the poison from his fingers}}.

** One of the movies had a woman murdered in a similar way. {{spoiler|her make-up artist put the poison in her make-up, and then gave her normal chocolates on an airplane trip. The woman pinched her nose to pop her ears, getting the poison on her fingers, and then ate a chocolate and licked her fingers, ingesting the poison.}}

** A man who disliked sour things was nevertheless poisoned by a lemon wedge in his drink because, as part of a marketing gimmick, he had eaten a miraculin berry and was unable to taste the sourness.

 

* One ''[[Batman]]'' comic featured the Joker's venom being applied to postage stamps. {{spoiler|The twist being that the Joker didn't do it.}}

* In the classic "The Judas Contract" storyline in ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'', Deathstroke captures Gar 'Changeling' Logan by drugging the gum in the envelopes Gar is using to respond to his fan mail.

 

* Not exactly lickable, but in the movie ''[[The Mechanic]]'', Arthur Bishop {{spoiler|is killed when Steve coats the inside of his wine glass with poison}}.

* Another not exactly lickable example occurs in [[Sherlock Holmes (film)|A Game of Shadows]] when {{spoiler|Irene Adler orders a fresh pot of tea in a restaurant because she suspects Moriarty of trying to poison her. Unbeknownst to her, Moriarty applied the poison to her tea strainer instead...}}

 

* In ''[[Robin Hobb]]'''s Assassin's Apprentice, one of Fitz-Chivalry's assassination ploys was to {{spoiler|poison the cutlery instead of the food.}}

* During the [[Belgariad|Mallorean]] series, Sadi kills a man by coating the man's soup spoon with poison.

* Non-poison example: In ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'', Locke and Jean win a card game by sprinkling a sleep-inducing drug on the cards. One of their opponents is notorious for eating and licking her fingers while she plays, and she forfeits the game when the drug puts her to sleep.

 

* There was a ''[[Remington Steele]]'' episode where the poison was in the glue on some envelopes Steele and Laura were expected to lick.

* In ''[[Seinfeld]]'' George's fiancee is accidentally poisoned by the cheap glue on the wedding invitation envelopes, because George was too stingy to pay for better ones (and too lazy to seal any invitations himself).

* In one episode of ''[[Benson]]'', a person with a habit of sucking on the earpiece of his reading glasses was killed by poison placed on the earpiece.

 

 

* Finger-licking isn't explicitly mentioned, but in ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'', Agostino Barbarigo dies after receiving several poisoned letters from the Assassins.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Mystery Tropes]]

[[Category:Toxic Tropes]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]