The Apothecary Diaries began as a novel series by Natsu Hyuuga; this manga adaptation, drawn by Erika Ikeda with character designs by Touko Shino, has been running since 25 May 2017. It is set in the rear palace of a Chinese-style dynasty, and its lead, Maomao, worked as an apothecary in the pleasure district before being sold into palace service.
Maomao intends to keep her head down and fails, because she cannot hide what she knows about poisons. When she works out that the imperial infants are falling ill because of an ingredient in a cosmetic, the eunuch Jinshi notices her, and she is handed one palace problem after another. The cases rarely turn on murder tricks. They turn on what someone ate, what incense was burning, which habits a household keeps, which makes the series as much social history as detective fiction.
Maomao tests poisons on herself out of professional curiosity, and that single trait supplies both the comedy and the tension. The serialisation continues, and an animated adaptation exists.
