Mrs Toomie

In the short story The Herb of Death, Mrs Toomie is woman, probably a resident of St. Mary Mead mentioned by Miss Marple as a village parallel for the mass poisoning at Clodderham Court. One Mrs MacArthur had sent her some special bulbs. The cook mistook them for onions and cooked them. As a result, the whole household fell very ill. However, Miss Marple agreed with Dr Lloyd that it was not so easy to kill with poisonous leaves per se. Most vegetable alkaloids needed to be extracted with care and preparation to be useful. In the case of Mrs Toomie, although her household was very sick, no one died.