The Drowned Heir

When her uncle dies at sea, a third child with no place in society undergoes a ceremony to house his spirit and take his role, minimizing the family's loss. But her uncle's spirit will not content itself with working on shipping ledgers and other shore-bound business. He is convinced that it was not just a turn of bad luck, not just a storm that killed him and wrecked his ship; it was an unthinkably large monster. And when his lover comes knocking with news of an adult son who has set sail along the same shipping lane, dead uncle and living niece must work together to defeat the monster and save a living heir neither of them knew existed.