Poison: From Steeltown to the Punjab, the True Story of a Serial Killer

Parvesh Dhillon, a beautiful Indian-Canadian woman, is at her home in Hamilton -- in agony on the floor, back arched, teeth clenched, as though every muscle in her body is contracting until her heart stops. A renowned forensic pathologist rules her collapse is from unknown causes. He is unaware that an exotic Indian poison, strychnine, killed her -- and the one who gave it to her was her husband, Sukhwinder Dhillon, in order to collect insurance money. Shortly after Parvesh dies, Dhillon returns to the Punjab, India to claim a new young wife and dowry, then marries two additional women. One of these is poisoned and dies. His twin newborn babies from the first of the new wives also die suddenly. Dhillon returns to Hamilton, enters into a business partnership with a friend of his, Ranjit. Soon Ranjit, too, is poisoned and dies, and Dhillon is the life insurance beneficiary. Again, a forensic pathologist is flummoxed by the cause of death. It is only when an understated yet scrupulous insurance claims investigator, Clifton Elliott, visits Dhillon to process the claim, that the scheme starts to unravel. By chance Elliott had dealt with Dhillon before, for his claim on Parvesh's death. This time, Elliott calls police, an investigation into two homicides begins, led by investigator Warren Korol. Strychnine is found in Ranjit's blood. Parvesh's old tissue samples are tested again and strychnine is detected. Korol and his Indian-Canadian partner, Kevin Dhinsa chase the case to India, investigate Dhillon's crimes, exhume bodies. The legal twists and turns of a double murder trial follows -- and a mistrial declared when witnesses from India are unveiled as imposters. The murders arethen severed into two trials. In a dramatic courtroom scene, Dhillon is unable to sustain the lies and is convicted of Parvesh's death. In the second murder trial he is convicted of his friend Ranjit's murder. The story ends with scene in India where Parvesh's ashes are scattered over a sacred river. This is true crime writing at its finest and most riveting.