Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and author Emily Organ for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

The Poison Puzzle is the second book in Emily Organ’s series centered on Emma Langley, a young widow in London during the end of the 19th century. This series was a spin-off from another series, which featured Penny Green (now Penny Blakely). I do think being acquainted with the characters helps a great deal, although Emily Organ does a terrific job recounting information from both of their pasts that factor into the story here.

Emma Langley is still reeling from her late husband’s deceptions. A clue in his papers leads her to a secret society with some powerful members. Penny is still struggling with balancing being a mother with her desire to be something other than just a mother and housewife. She accompanies Penny as they stake out the home of the society. They end up making the acquaintance of Lord Harpole as he’s departing, and he loans Emma his coat after she’s drenched by a carriage going through a puddle. When the two women go to return the coat to Lord Harpole the next day (and possibly get a few answers about the secret society), they find him near death in his hotel room.

Despite their immediate summoning of help, Lord Harpole doesn’t survive. His death is ruled a suicide, due to a note found in his room. However, there are a few things that don’t sit right with Penny and Emma. Their investigation leads to Scotland Yard reopening the case as a murder.

I have to be honest that I figured out who the killer was almost immediately. That didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story, though. Like The Whitechapel Widow before it, the story focuses on women in the Victorian Era. In particular, it focuses on the constraints placed on women by many social factors that were out of their control. Penny was once a reporter before she was married and became a mother. She still wants to use those talents, but society wouldn’t let her once she was married, and especially after she became a mother. However, she still yearns for a life outside of the home. Her husband is very supportive and surprisingly progressive for this era. I think he would have had to be for Penny to marry him.

Emma lost everything due to the laws regarding property and women. She had some inheritance from her parents, but her husband had rights to it after they were married and squandered it. She is still trying to piece together exactly what happened, and this is part of it. At the same time, with Penny leading, she’s growing a bit into the woman she wants to be. The friendship between these two women is wonderful. Penny has experience with mysteries from her career as a reporter, and as hesitant as Emma is to be as brash as Penny, she rises on a number of occasions in this book to push boundaries.

The other women in the story face similar challenges. Lord Harpole’s fiancée had a life that dictated who she should marry based on social class. The late Lord’s sister-in-law is thrust into being a Lady, a position she never thought she would have, but one that has high expectations as well as constraints.

I loved that I knew many of the locations the book takes the reader to while Emma and Penny are following clues to a possible treasure. I’ve been to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese when I was in London and remember it quite vividly. There are many other places along the way that I recognized as well, and I even gained the names of a few more places to visit the next time I’m there. Emily Organ’s descriptions really immersed me in this era, when there were a few modern conveniences such as trains and gas lamps. It was hardly modern by our standards, but it was definitely a time on the cusp of change, and the author really captures it.

If you enjoy historical mysteries, I can’t recommend this enough. It’s not too heavy or long, so it can be a summer read or a good mystery for those cozy winter nights.

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