The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor

After reading Bleeding Heart Square, I dove into this book with great anticipation. I was not disappointed. The novel begins with a series of deaths in Cambridge and London in 1786. Struggling London bookseller, John Holdsworth, accepts a commission to find the true cause of student Frank Oldershaw's madness, presumably caused by seeing a ghost. He is thrown into a small community of secrets, power struggles, and tangled relationships. Taylor does an excellent job of creating an historical time and place. His characters struggle with both ghosts who appear to be apparitions of the recently deceased and ghosts who live in the minds of those consumed by guilt and regret. The ultimate resolution is very satisfying. My only criticism was finding myself confused in the opening pages by deaths of two ladies at Jerusalem college. I had to go back and reread it a couple of times.