The Chrysanthemum Tiger — Alys Clare

Physician-sleuth Dr Gabriel Taverner has to face his greatest challenge yet - a serious danger from the East threatens not just his life, but everyone he loves! All aboard this adventurous historical mystery set in the early seventeenth century.

March, 1605. Country doctor and former ship surgeon Gabriel Taverner is ready for his next adventure. Since he discovered that his injury from years ago doesn't affect his nautical suitability anymore, he can't wait to leave Devon - this time for his new employer Walter Haverleigh, a successful merchant, who wants Gabriel to tend to the crew of the Luipaard while sailing the Eastern seas.

As years pass by with Gabriel travelling, his family and friends back home are struggling with the substitute physician he found for them before he left so hurriedly. Doctor Maudsley Cheverell turned out to be as incompetent as they come and unpleasant at best. So when he is found dead in a ditch one day, no one seems to be too surprised or sad about his untimely death.

Only when examining the body, it seems like Cheverell was tortured using a specific method from the East . . . Is there a connection to Gabriel and his time in Asia? Where is he now? And how did the quiet English town of Tavy Valley suddenly get involved in a dangerous plot and most importantly, will everyone come out of it alive?

The last instalment in the Gabriel Taverner historical mystery series delivers a grand finale, a story with lots of twist and turns, great nautical adventures and beautiful settings: "A must for historical mystery readers" (Booklist).