I was so excited to read The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, but after reading it, my favorite thing about it is the cover. Caroline, a modern day aspiring historian, finds an old bottle in the Thames while on a trip to London, which leads her to discover the ruins of a mostly forgotten 18th century apothecary run by women.

The apothecary harbored a secret room where things much stronger than normal healing teas and herbs were brewed. The men in the book clearly deserved punishment for their treatment of women at the time, but it was surprising how easily murder came to someone trained to be a healer. Although it was supposed to be a mystery unfolding along with a bit of historical fiction, it all felt too coincidental and frankly unbelievable.

A beautiful cover, enclosing a mildly interesting, mostly disappointing novel.