The Devil and the Dark Water

Stuart Turton's second novel is a genre-bending mystery set in 1634 aboard the Dutch East India Company ship Saardam, sailing from Batavia to Amsterdam. Samuel Pipps, celebrated as the world's greatest detective, is a prisoner below decks, accused of a crime that may cost him his life.

It falls to his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, and the sharp-witted noblewoman Sara Wessel — wife of the ship's tyrannical governor general, Jan Haan — to investigate when the voyage is struck by a string of impossible horrors: a leper who should already be dead walking the decks, a strange sigil burned into the sails, and a demonic voice promising three unholy miracles before the ship makes port.

Blending locked-room mystery with supernatural dread, the novel follows Arent and Sara as they race to unmask a killer hiding in plain sight among the passengers and crew.