The Apothecary Diaries

Raised in the pleasure quarters and trained in the subtle arts of herbal medicine, Maomao possesses a sharp mind and a keen eye for poison—talents that do her little good when she is kidnapped and sold into menial servitude within the imperial inner palace. Surrounded by intrigue and suffocating etiquette, she dreams only of a quiet, unremarkable life beyond the vermilion walls. But when the emperor's infant heirs fall gravely ill with a mysterious affliction that court physicians dismiss as a curse, Maomao's instinct for diagnosis proves impossible to suppress. Her quiet intervention not only saves the children but also shatters her carefully maintained obscurity. Word of her feat reaches the enigmatic and strikingly handsome eunuch Jinshi, who swiftly elevates her to the position of official food taster—a role meant to protect the emperor from assassination by poison. Yet Maomao quickly discovers that Jinshi’s interest in her goes far beyond her palate. Rather than confining her to tasting plates, he continually thrusts her into the labyrinthine conspiracies of the rear palace, tasking her with uncovering the truth behind eerie incidents, suspicious deaths, and seemingly supernatural occurrences. Reluctantly traded from grinding herbs to unraveling enigmas, Maomao finds that her dream of escaping palace life may be the one mystery she cannot solve—especially when the most dangerous puzzle of all might be the motives of the man who holds her leash.