Curare is a toxic substance typically used to lace their arrows for hunting animals in Central and South America. The poison was later made common knowledge in Britain due to researchers traveling to the Americas for study. It can usually be safely consumed, and its deadly effects only occur if it enters the bloodstream. An afflicted animal suffers from complete muscular paralysis, and suffocates to death. The symptoms occur suddenly, leaving no opportunity for the victim to draw attention to themselves.
Known incidents[]
- Main article: The Adventure of the Great Departure
- See also: Carbonated Water Bottle & Jezaille's Report
The British assassin Asa Shinn was sent to Japan as an exchange student studying under John Wilson, going by "Jezaille Brett". She was tasked in killing Wilson, and chose curare, a poison that she was researching, as the method for doing so. The poison was unknown in Japan, and thus would be undetectable by the forensic methods of the authorities.
The water Brett used to hide the curare.
On November 19th, Wilson had a dentist appointment to get a tooth extracted, before heading to La Carneval for a luncheon with Brett. The latter used this chance to carry out the assassination, knowing that Wilson would be uniquely vulnerable at that time, even if he consumed the poison. She laced a bottle of carbonated water with the curare, but before she could leave discreetly, Ryunosuke Naruhodo approached their table to talk with the professor. Forced to stay while Wilson succumbed to the curare, she then decided to pin the crime on the one potential witness to her crime by placing Wilson's gun on the floor for Naruhodo to find. She then shot Wilson — who had, in reality, already died — with her own hidden pistol.
Naruhodo was subsequently arrested and placed on trial for the murder. During a recess to call Brett to the stand, Yujin Mikotoba instructed Susato Mikotoba to bring Brett's research report on curare to the trial. Naruhodo eventually accused Brett of poisoning the water from the bottle. Although no poison was detected on it, Susato managed to retrieve the report. In an attempt to "disprove" Naruhodo's accusation, Brett drank the remaining water in the bottle, knowing that it would not harm her. However, Susato's translation notes on Brett's report allowed Naruhodo to uncover how only Wilson could have been affected by drinking the poisoned water. In response to this, Brett dropped the bottle onto the floor, smashing it into pieces, while the remaining water was absorbed into the carpet. Naruhodo was nonetheless able to show that Brett had shot Wilson, at which point she admitted to poisoning the water.