The Witness for the Dead

The Witness for the Dead is a standalone high-fantasy novel by Sarah Monette (writing as Katherine Addison), set in the same richly realized world as The Goblin Emperor. Thara Celehar, once a respected Prelate and now an outcast living on the fringes of court life, possesses a rare gift: he can speak to the dead.

As a Witness for the Dead, his duties are grim but necessary — resolving inheritance disputes, identifying murder victims, and occasionally bringing justice by uncovering who killed them. When a string of murders targeting wealthy women in Amalo points toward a serial killer, Thara's investigation draws him into a deadly game against one of the realm's most powerful men.