StoryGraph Saturday is a weekly thing where I randomly choose a book from my To Read pile on StoryGraph and show it off to both remind myself that it’s there and to show it to you, Dear Reader, in case you might find it interesting, too.

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A Beautiful Poison
by Lydia Kang
Historical Fiction/Mystery
350 pages
Published in 2017

From The StoryGraph:

Just beyond the Gilded Age, in the mist-covered streets of New York, the deadly Spanish influenza ripples through the city. But with so many victims in her close circle, young socialite Allene questions if the flu is really to blame. All appear to have been poisoned—and every death was accompanied by a mysterious note.

Desperate for answers and dreading her own engagement to a wealthy gentleman, Allene returns to her passion for scientific discovery and recruits her long-lost friends, Jasper and Birdie, for help. The investigation brings her closer to Jasper, an apprentice medical examiner at Bellevue Hospital who still holds her heart, and offers the delicate Birdie a last-ditch chance to find a safe haven before her fragile health fails.

As more of their friends and family die, alliances shift, lives become entangled, and the three begin to suspect everyone—even each other. As they race to find the culprit, Allene, Birdie, and Jasper must once again trust each other, before one of them becomes the next victim.

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I read Kang’s latest book, Opium and Absinthe earlier this year and enjoyed it. For some reason I hadn’t bothered to see if she had written any other books, so when she posted a picture of her earlier novel, A Beautiful Poison to her Instagram, I almost immediately added it to my TBR. My library has a copy available, so I’ll be able to check it out. It seems like a book that would be great for late summer or early fall, so I’ll probably try it out in August or September.