Humans have been poisoning rodents for centuries. But fast-breeding rats and mice have evolved resistance to earlier poisons.

For the past 14 years, Her Ladyship has been cultivating and nurturing the famous Poison Garden. It is in that intriguing location that Maryrose Wood has set her gothic romance, The Poison Diaries.

After Flaco the owl escaped a vandalized cage at the Central Park Zoo and became a local celebrity last year, animal experts warned the public of the risks the bird faced in the wild. On Monday ...