History Main / PerfectPoison

** Pufferfish (''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraodontidae Tetraodontidae]]'') deserve a mention here too. As per this trope, the symptoms appear almost immediately after the meat is eaten. First, the victim's lips and tongue go numb. Then come the dizziness and vomiting, followed by rapid heart rate, lowered blood pressure, numbness all over the body, and [[AndIMustScream paralysis until death comes four to twenty-four hours later]]. Poisoning someone with pufferfish meat (or ''fugu'' in Japanese) wouldn't be particularly practical, though. The only people allowed to serve ''fugu'' are licensed chefs, and even if a ''fugu'' poisoning was passed off as an accident, it would almost certainly lead to public shame and a revocation of the chef's license. (Unfortunately, in Thailand, pufferfish meat is often served in lieu of other fish because it's cheaper and because fewer people there are aware of the danger.)

* ''Literature/PreludeToDune'':
** Subverted in ''Dune: House Atreides'', where Hasimir Fenring poisons Emperor Elrood Corrino IX at the request of the Emperor's son Shaddam with a chaumurky (poison that goes in a drink) that takes two years to work. The poison requires constant consumption of spice beer in order to work. Fortunately for the assassin, Elrood loves spice beer. Also, the effects of chaumurky become apparent within weeks, as the aging Emperor slowly begins to exhibit symptoms similar to senility. Given his advanced age, nobody suspects foul play.
** The Water of Life plays with this trope. The extract from a juvenile sandworm is supposed to be ''so'' dangerous that ''just one drop'' would cause sudden, violent death. It is the mark of a truly gifted individual to be able to overcome the poison, which requires enough control of the body to be able to transmute the toxin within into a non-lethal psychotropic. A woman who can achieve this has the makings of a full-fledged Bene Gesserit. A ''man'' who can achieve the same...has the makings of ''TheChosenOne''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': ComicBook/TheJoker's trademark Joker Venom is sometimes depicted this way; special mention goes to its very first appearance,[[note]]''Batman'' #1, later modernized in Ed Brubaker's ''The Man Who Laughs''[[/note]] where the victim stands perfectly healthy (if extremely nervous) for the first twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-nine seconds after exposure... and ''instantly'' keels over with the trademark death-grin one second later.

* ''ComicBook/{{X 23}}'': In ''X-23: Target X'', an altercation with her high school biology teacher leads to Laura matter-of-factly telling him the best way to poison a person undetected (and since she used to be an assassin, she presumably is speaking from experience). HilarityEnsues when she and her cousin are sent to the principal over this.

* Most poisons in TabletopGame/TheDarkEye tend to be rather compromising than lethal to a healthy person (paralysing effects are popular), or spread their effect out over several hours or longer. There are a few quick killers though, with Purple Flash playing this trope completely straight. An ingestion poison with no distinct taste or smell, that can be dissolved in liquid, killing its victim within 30-60 seconds, with the only symptom being a purple clouded vision, and no way to trace it afterwards. A favourite among rich nobles.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Came incredibly close, albeit thanks to some special (but not rare) circumstances. A popular talk-show host named Bobby Mann was found dead of a suspected heart attack. However, Castle, who was just on his show and had Mann whisper in his ear that he thought his life was in danger, suspects murder. Two tox screens came back clear, but at Castle's insistence, they dig further and find the truth: Bobby Mann was taking a very powerful medication for depression. The medicine reacts fatally with anything fermented. Knowing this, they realize the cranberry juice he was drinking was spiked with (fermented) balsamic vinegar, almost undetectable under the circumstances.

* ''Series/TheBorgias'': Really likes this trope.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': In the episode "Ephemera", a woman was poisoned by her brother over the family business. While the poison wasn't instant (the killer wanted it to look like she had died from a disease that had taken the lives of other family members, and thus passed off as natural causes), it was undetectable. Undetectable by 1970s science that is. An NCIS team using more modern equipment and techniques fifty years later was able to prove it was murder fairly easily once they had reason to look.

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* ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'': On their wiki, the PPC refers to this as "Ye Olde Poisonous Poison."

** A combination of poisons is used to take down a corrupt politician. The assassin uses heatfire and rancid garic oil. The first one causes the heart rate to increase to induce a heart attack with the benefits of blinding the victim. The second is deadly because the rancid nature and infections it brings. The source of infection is too great for the body to overcome before fever and delirium hits, and taking days to kill at that. To cure it, it requires a healer slowly chip away at the point of infection so the victim's body can destroy it. However, this means if the healing is stopped for any long period of time, the infection will be in more places, killing the person in an hour. So, combined, even a powerful healer will fall.

* Farran [[MeaningfulName the Poisoner]] employs such poisons in ''[[Literature/{{Redwall}} Salamandastron]]''. Notably, the poison works a little ''too'' perfectly -- to Farran's chagrin, the poison is so fast-acting that the first hare to eat the poisoned food keels over before anybody else has a chance to start eating, alerting the mountain's defenders that their food has been tampered with and leading to Farran's discovery and death.

* ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'': Both the episode "The Chaser" and the story it's based on have expensive "glove cleaner", "totally undetectable to all forms of autopsy". The man who sells it also sells love potions... for five dollars. Because whoever drinks the love potion becomes obsessively and smotheringly in love with the person who gave it to them, to the point where the latter can't stand it anymore, he's expecting all of his customers to come back for the "glove cleaner"...

-->-- ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E31TheChaser The Chaser]]"