The Apothecary Diaries (2025)

"After breaking a 'curse' on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated period mystery series! Maomao, a young woman trained in the art of herbal medicine, is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Though she yearns for life outside its perfumed halls, she isn't long for a life of drudgery! Using her wits to break a 'curse' afflicting the imperial heirs, Maomao attracts the attentions of the handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to attendant food taster. But Jinshi has other plans for the erstwhile apothecary, and soon Maomao is back to brewing potions and solving mysteries?!"

Maomao, a young woman trained in the art of herbal medicine, is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Though she yearns for life outside its perfumed halls, she isn't long for a life of drudgery! Using her wits to break a "curse" afflicting the imperial heirs, Maomao attracts the attentions of the handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to attendant food taster. But Jinshi has other plans for the erstwhile apothecary, and soon Maomao is back to brewing potions and... solving mysteries?!

After putting on a successful and sensual(?) show of food tasting at the garden banquet, Maomao is the talk of the palace! But she soon discovers that notoriety isn't the only thing the party has granted her! Her collection of hairpins from the event brings the young herbalist a brief window of freedom beyond the palace walls, as she returns to the pleasure district for the first time in ten months! But while reunions with her father and her friends await, so too does another mystery...

"Though Maomao has left the palace behind and returned to her home in the pleasure district, it seems the Inner Court can't do without her! Jinshi comes to the erstwhile food taster with a request involving the attempted poisoning of the Virtuous Consort during the garden banquet and the identity of the mastermind behind it!"

Forced to the leave the Inner Palace, Maomao finds herself in the employ of none other than Jinshi, the seemingly ever-present thorn in her side! Immune to his charms, Maomao sets about learning the ways of life in the Outer Palace, where government officials and military officers go about the daily business of running the country. Far from being fearful of her new surroundings, however, Maomao has her insatiable curiosity piqued by the soldier-occupied eastern wing, where she's been forbidden to go but where it seems further mysteries await...

Maomao has proven her worth to the denizens of the palace time and time again, but she's got her work cut out for her on this occasion! When the ever luminous Jinshi asks for Maomao's help in disguising himself to take care of business outside the palace walls, Maomao must dig deep to mar her employer's heavenly charms! And to make the ploy believable, Maomao herself is roped in to a spot of theater as Jinshi's companion. But Jinshi's "business" takes him right to the gates of the pleasure district! Has all Maomao's hard work been for a mere assignation, or is there another mystery afoot?

After breaking a "curse" on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series! Maomao succeeds in saving Jinshi from a horrific fate, proving herself indispensable to the palace once more! But while she is given the chance to explain herself, Maomao has yet to learn that the treachery of the plot she has uncovered is woven deep into the fabric of the very palace in which she serves! To truly unpick the mystery, Maomao will need her patience and her copious wits about her... She'll also need to watch her back, as she comes face-to-face with the sinister La Kan...

The truth of Maomao's identity revealed? After losing to Maomao at elephant chess and passing out from the "poison" he drank as his punishment, La Kan dreams of a long-lost past and his affair with a certain courtesan, as well as the events leading up to meeting his daughter for the very first time. Upon waking, he finds himself at Verdigris, where he is pressed to buy the freedom of a courtesan of his choosing and take her home as his wife! Who will he pick?

After breaking a "curse" on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series! A festive mood comes to the Inner Court with the arrival of a long-awaited merchant caravan, but does ill intent aimed at a pregnant consort lurk behind its perfumed wares?! As Maomao and Xiaolan delight in browsing the caravan's offerings, they once again cross paths with the maid who caught the kitten. As it turns out, she and Maomao are two eccentric peas in a pod...much to the chagrin of those around them! And the latest request from Jinshi seems to be connected to another incident, which unearths yet more mysteries to be solved!

After breaking a "curse" on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series!When two beautiful foreign envoys with designs on the Emperor come calling with a tale of old about a spellbinding courtesan who captured the imagination of their family patriarch, it’s up to Maomao to concoct a theatrical scheme to give the ladies a whopper of a story to take home! Later, Maomao goes back to sniffing around the Inner Court to find out the truth about the troubling prevalence of those foreign perfume oils that could spell disaster for the throne's future heirs...

After breaking a “curse” on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series!Summoned to attend the Emperor on an evening jaunt to an ancient shrine that functions as a rite of passage for the rulers of the land, Maomao makes quick work of the puzzle inside, acquitting herself with aplomb. Having learned more about the Imperial bloodline than a commoner has any right to know, Maomao returns to her post at the Jade Palace. But her aim to stay out of the business of her betters is foiled once again when the Empress Dowager comes calling! The mother of His Imperial Majesty seeks Maomao's aid in investigating yet another curse, one she fears she herself may have cast upon the infamous late Emperor...

After breaking a “curse” on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series!Strong-armed into getting out more, Maomao attends a spooky soiree where court ladies share spine-tingling tales of terror as a diversion from their daily toil. While there are plenty of chills to go around, the thrills are perhaps few for the skeptical Maomao...until the evening takes an eerie turn! And still more thrills await when Jinshi requests Maomao’s presence on a hunting trip. All is not as it seems when court intrigue and subterfuge are in play however, and master and servant find themselves in a very tight spot and uncomfortably close quarters when a break from a banquet on the hunt goes awry...

Maomao has accompanied Jinshi on a hunting trip in which Jinshi is keeping his true identity a secret. But then they were suddenly shot by flintlocks and managed to get away by hiding in a cave where Maomao learns one of the many secrets that Jinshi has been keeping. Now she has to work with Lihaku to identify their would-be assassins. While she’s able to work out their motive, could it be that there’s much more to this incident than she realizes? Once this case is closed, Maomao is once again called upon to solve a mystery in the inner court!

After breaking a “curse” on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series!After tangling with a ghost at the Diamond Palace and temporarily trading in her poisons for sweet treats, Maomao returns to the Jade Palace only to find a grave problem staring her in the face! Mere weeks before the heavily pregnant Consort Gyokuyo is due to bear her child, Maomao deduces that all is not well with the coming birth of the new Imperial addition. But even with her skills, Maomao knows she isn’t up to the momentous task of seeing her lady through this trial. Who to turn to, then? The quack, sweet though he may be, is out of the question. That only leaves…Maomao’s Pa! But while his plucky daughter would gladly vouch for Luomen, will the Inner Court really be willing to put the future of the empire into the hands of a criminal once more?

After breaking a “curse” on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series!Maomao is missing! But she’s not the only one, as it turns out. While her fate plays upon his mind, Jinshi searches for the handsome new eunuch, who is also nowhere to be found. When a lead about the vanished man unearths a connection with someone at the Inner Court, Jinshi stumbles upon yet another disappearance—this time, that of a principal consort! As the threads begin to intertwine, Jinshi may at last be on Maomao’s trail... Meanwhile, as an unwilling guest at the hidden village Shisui calls home, Maomao herself indulges her insatiable curiosity, only for her zeal to lead her into trouble again! Entangled in treacherous schemes, the quirky apothecary starts to grasp that the events transpiring at the hidden village are tied to the recent happenings at the Inner Court. To get to the bottom of the conspiracy, Maomao must keep her wits about her if she wants to return to the Inner Court to tell the tale!