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For anyone with an interest toward true crime, strange history, and fascinating characters, this illustrated beauty is for you.

With writing reminiscent of Deborah Blum, Mary Roach, and Sam Kean, The League of Lady Poisoners is a fantastic look at an interesting niche of crime history. Poison is but one of many means of dispatching those you dislike (for any number of reasons). The women that wield the poison in these tales are as varied in background, likely motive, and method of dispatch as any lineup on murderers (or suspected murderers) row. Although a fair many of them do choose arsenic as their weapon of choice…

The artwork is stunning. It has both humor and gravitas for its’ chosen femme fatales. The writing manages to make the historical accounts of the women and their lives both humorous and heartening. There is context given to each of the women, both historical and personal, as a way to see why poison was their method of choice to deal with the people in their lives that they wanted to be rid of. For whatever reason. Whether for vengeance or for lack of other options, the women behind the deadly deeds were not one-note caricatures. Perrin captures their lives and weaves their stories in a way that makes you both amazed at their audacity, and a little enamored of their gumption.

This deserves to be a coffee table book that is displayed proudly. The history is rich, the women interesting, and the poisons deadly.

I will be buying the hardcover of this book when it comes out. It is definitely one that I want to have and display and come back to (especially the artwork, which is just as important for this book as the writing).

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.