The Ninth Passenger

The midnight ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle carries eight passengers. Deckhand Cass Riley counts them twice. At the dock, there are nine. The ninth passenger has no ticket, no bag, and a coat a hundred years out of fashion. By the time the ferry docks, he is dead in the lifeboat, and the manifest still reads eight. Harbor detective Ana Reyes can't find him on a single camera. Cass finds a Victorian coat button and a museum register from a Mosquito Fleet steamer lost in 1892—eight names listed, nine bodies recovered. A centennial memorial is about to put the ninth name on a plaque, and someone is killing to keep it off. A we solve murders mystery with a Victorian ghost log at its center, for readers who count the passengers.