The Indigo Ghosts

Set in 1604, Clare’s excellent third novel featuring former ship’s surgeon Gabriel Taverner (after 2018’s The Angel in the Glass) takes Taverner to Plymouth, England, where his former captain, Ezekiel Colt, needs his help. During the recent voyage home of Colt’s ship, the Falco, from the Caribbean and the Spanish Main, a series of strange events happened. These include a storm Colt believed was unnatural in origin, a crew terrified for no apparent reason, and his own witnessing of several blue-skinned ghosts. The ship’s surgeon, Taverner’s successor, insisted that the blue ghosts weren’t real, went mad, and cried out “I see you!” before jumping overboard and drowning. The rational Taverner is unnerved when he has a vision of a crocodile in the Falco’s hold, where he and the captain a short time later find the impaled corpse of a long-dead woman. More bodies turn up as Taverner and his capable sister, Celia, investigate. Clare matches well-drawn characters, in particular the charismatic lead, with a head-scratching puzzle and creepy atmospherics. Imogen Robertson fans will be pleased. Agent: Sophie Gorell Barnes/MBA Literary. (June)