Smallpox takes center stage in this atmospheric historical mystery, with its chilling impact lingering years after a string of deaths rocks the village. Samantha Larsen doesn’t shy away from the gruesome details—from the horrifying symptoms to the scarring disfigurement. The book delves into early inoculation efforts, revealing how English physicians experimented with techniques borrowed from other cultures—sometimes with success, sometimes disastrously. (Mercury and bloodletting? Definitely not the best pre-vaccine prep.)

This is the third installment in the Lady Librarian Mystery series, and while I hadn’t read the previous books, I never felt lost. Enough context is woven throughout to bring new readers up to speed. Tiffany, a former governess turned librarian, now a wife and mother, brings a refreshing perspective to the amateur sleuth archetype. Her desire for identity beyond domestic roles added real depth to her character.

I especially appreciated the nuanced portrayal of diversity in 18th-century England. Tiffany’s husband is of South Asian descent, making their daughter biracial, and her friend Catharine has adopted an African son. While their backgrounds are clearly established in earlier books, their presence is woven naturally into the story, acknowledged by those around them but not sensationalized.

The mystery is delightfully dark, with a gothic tone, eerie characters, and an unsettling atmosphere that kept me guessing. The twists were clever and unexpected, and the stakes felt real.

Marni Penning’s narration brought the story to life—clear, expressive, and perfectly paced. I listened at 2x speed, and it matched the urgency of the unfolding plot beautifully.

If you enjoy layered historical mysteries with a touch of horror and a strong female lead, this one’s worth your time.

Just listen to this book! You will need to read the other two to really understand what is happening! But you will not be sad you did! This series is just so amazing! I love learning so many unexpected things delights from this authors writings! So awesome! Loved this story! The characters are so real and I love that she makes them so full of personality! The narrator was perfect for this story!

Thanks to the author and Dreamscape for this book! All opinions and thoughts are my own!

Tiffany is back in book three and I was so excited to jump back in! The Poetic Pox had everything I love, creepy manor vibes, fun new characters, and a mystery that kept me guessing the whole time. That plot twist at the end was a total shock!!

I listened to this one on audio and the narrator was fantastic this was such a great listen! If you’ve been reading this series, don’t skip this one. And if you haven’t started yet… now’s the time!

A delightful mystery with all the gothic vibes! A cozy Lady Librarian mystery not to be missed. I enjoyed how the narrator brought the story to life!

I received an audio ARC through Netgalley and all opinions are my own.

Ohhhh, I loved the gothic feel and all of the twists and turns of this murder mystery! I always love reading about Mrs. Tiffany Lathrop's adventures. She is quite a delightful character. I loved seeing how the author showed her character trying to balance being a new mom, a wife, a librarian to Her Grace, Catharine, the Duchess of Beaufort. And to see a little glimpse of what being a mom to a baby would have been like in this time period was very interesting. I know some reviewers weren't too keen on the talk of nursing and changing nappies, some saying it was redundant, but I feel like it was interesting and that most of those times were scenes that were set so that Tiffany could contemplate the situation and go over facts of the murder and mystery. If not done in that moment, they would be done in another moment of Tiffany's life. I thought the balance of the situations was well done. But each reader is different in their preferences. I feel like it was written in a sensitive and thoughtful way and not graphic. And, as I said previously, I think these moments were also a time that she reflected on being a mom and balancing everything.

I kept trying to guess what was going to happen and guess the whodunnit character. And I did!!! There are lots of different options and I'll tell you that it isn't that clear, so pay close attention to all of the clues.

I loved seeing the friendship between Tiffany and Catharine continue to develop. They are two very funny characters. I loved that we see more of Catharine's humor in this story. And the love story was heartwarming. Add in the characters of the children, the staff at the Abbey and the villagers, and you'll find yourself caught up in quite a "Pox"-ful adventure! Haha! Sorry, I was trying to be pun-y!

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator. There were a couple of times where her voice for a certain character changed several times within the one scene and had me giggling a little, but overall she did a delightful job!

Content: Clean. Some kisses, some very mild innuendos, some moments of peril, a mother nurses her baby, and talk of death.

I received an ebook copy from the author, and an audiobook copy from the producer, Dreamscape Media, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Listening & Reading!!!

I just couldn’t get into this book. So much time was spent talking about nursing and changing diapers…which is a part of life for a young mother. But it was redundant and unnecessary.

The narrator was enjoyable, but I was unable to finish this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was the best book in the series so far. The mystery was captivating, and the smallpox aspect of the story was a unique addition to a murder mystery; one I very much appreciated. We also see a great deal of character development in both Tiffany and Catherine. Tiffany battles her inner guilty voices that tell her she needs to focus on being a mother and the desire to be much more than just a mother. As for Catherine, we get a softer and occasionally self-conscious side to the Duchess that we haven't seen until now. Overall, I highly recommend this series and this book to all historical mystery lovers.

Tiffany Lathrop is back. And, per usual, she finds a murder victim. She is certain he was poisoned, but also certain he was not the intended victim. The Marquess of Harwood is also sick, but still alive. Can they nurse him back to help and keep him safe from another attempt? As she investigates, she finds out there are a lot of people who blame him for a measles outbreak years ago that caused a significant number of deaths. The number of suspects is astounding. Can she figure it out in time?

I always enjoy Tiffany and her investigations. Overall, this may have been my favorite. (Though I immediately figured out who was responsible. There was one twist I didn't see coming though.)

However, my enjoyment of the book was hampered by the fact that she is nursing her daughter for like a quarter of the book. SO MUCH NURSING. And it wasn't just mentioned. It was a detailed account. Now, the nursing itself doesn't bother me. It is the fact that so much of the book was wasted on this. Either cut it and make the book shorter or stop with the filler.

Marni Penning narrates the audiobook.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Tiffany Lathrop (née Woodall) has returned just past Christmas 1786. When the presence of her employer, the chaotic Duchess Beaufort, is requested at the home of an old "friend", Tiffany is expected along as a companion (and perhaps a cover story). Upon arrival, they find a sickly Marquess and a dead valet alongside some suspicious tea...


This book is a real soap opera and the drama is delicious. By far the best book of this series. You can figure out some twists relatively early but the ending is still suitably dramatic. Tiffany is the most likable she has ever been and while the Duchess is as demanding and ornery as ever, she provides great contrast to the kind-hearted Tiff. Thomas and Samir feature sparingly but are important in what they bring to the table instead of making mere courtesy appearances. Nat (Tiff's older child from the previous book) is barely present as he is left home while Priya (the younger Lathrop child) and the young Duke Beaufort accompany their mothers on this adventure and provide much of the comic relief. I fear I cannot say much without revealing parts of the story you really need to read for yourself. Seriously, this series is worth catching up on just for the wild ride of this book.


I struggle a bit for criticism in my elation at how well this installment went. There is quite a bit of dialogue about the station of women, Indians, and Africans in late-1700s English society as if the author does not trust her examples to work without being explicitly spoken about by Tiff and the Duchess. It becomes repetitive.


The audiobook has great acting though at times it sacrifices accessibility. At one point I had to rewind three times and slow the book down to understand a whispered line. I love the acting but I do value audiobooks primarily as accessibility tools and this may not be the best choice for this.

This was a fun mystery. The tale had a gothic ghost story vibe and the twists and turns were intriguing. The author left enough crumbs to figure out the mystery while keeping the story interesting even once you’ve figured it out. The characters had fully developed lives that was deftly interwoven into the story without feeling bogged down in details. Overall, it was just a great read.
The narrator did a wonderful job bringing the story to life. The voice acting was perfect and the story was full and rich in audio.

Big Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the advanced copy! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

'A Poetic Pox' is the third book of Lady Librarian Mysteries, and it follows Tiffany, a mom of a newborn girl, and librarian to Duchess Catharine, as she tries to solve a complex mystery set in a haunted mansion at a spooky and illness-stricken small town.

The mystery, first of all, was quite great. It was Gothic, haunting, intense, and quite dark. The twists were, moreover, enjoyable and unpredictable, and all the characters involved were bizarre and creepy.

On the other hand, Tiffany's personal life was taking too much of the story, as there were too many repetitions of her nursing her daughter and missing her family. And yet, it was interesting to read about a married woman with children being the main lead in an investigation, but we didn't need to know every time the baby ate.

Still, the atmosphere was quite foggy, and the author did a great job handling the mystery, with an enjoyable writing style.

Finally, the narration of the audiobook was brilliant as was the production of it.

This review is also posted on Goodreads and Storygraph.

𝙰𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠
🌟🌟🌟🌟.5
A Poetic Pox was a pleasantly good surprise. I didn't know what I was getting when I was approved for this audiobook, but this is book three in a series. And just know I am going to read books 1 and 2, because book 3 was so good! The murder mystery, suspense, romance, and different cultures involved in this story are just amazing. Even though this is book three in the series, you could read this book as a standalone; I wasn't lost or confused.

The audiobook is narrated by Marni Penning. She did a good job giving the characters depth, and it was easy to listen to and understand. I listened at 2x speed.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

1786, England.

Mrs. Tiffany Lathrop, new mother and a librarian to Catharine, Duchess of Beaufort, is feeling a little itch to do something other than change nappies. When Catharine gets a letter from a former lover (and the natural father of her younger son) that he is dying, Catharine insists that Tiffany make the journey with her nursing daughter. When they arrive, they discover Lord Harwood on death's door with suspicious looking pox marks, and his valet dead of a potential poisoning. An interview with the vicar and examination of church records show a smallpox epidemic twenty years ago... and it may have been brought on by Lord Harwood and his friends searching for a cure for the "speckled monster."

I picked this one up for the smallpox, and it did not disappoint me. Pox is central to the plot and the mystery from the deaths years prior to the ongoing mystery in the story's present timeline. Smallpox was an incredibly deadly disease, and Samantha Larsen does not shy away from descriptions of types of pox (contiguous and discrete) and the horrors of the disfiguration not only from scarring but from the disease itself. But Larsen also talks about the early smallpox inoculations (using live virus), and uses the young men of the village as examples of how English doctors adapted medical technology from other cultures (successfully and unsuccessfully... because while 21st century readers know that bleeding a patient and taking mercury before inoculation is unwise, 18th century doctors found that a logical preparation of the patient's constitution.)

This is the third book in the Lady Librarian Mystery series, and I had not read the previous books. This meant that I came in without some of the background for why Tiffany likes to solve mysteries and for her position as librarian, former governess, and new mother, though much of that is repeated throughout the story, so I was by no means lost. The mystery stands well alone. While there are some elements of romance, the romantic relationships are not central to the plot of the story. I appreciated the diversity in 18th century England: Catharine's oldest son is adopted and is African, and Tiffany is married to a man of South Asian descent, making her daughter biracial. While it feels like the acknowledgement of their racial identities are a part of the backstory from previous books, they are accepted by the central characters and considered an oddity to the villagers outside of London.

I enjoyed the audiobook, which is good, because in my research, it appears for now this is an audio-only release.