Karin A. (Jerseygirltoo) -
Helpful Score: 1
This is a great series, with strong and fascinating characters. It takes place during a period of Southern history that not many authors write about. If you love New Orleans, you'll enjoy this book.
Another fascinating look into the very different world of historical New Orleans. I think Hambly is very good at evoking a different time and place. Describing the effects of the epidemic made me glad I have never had to be in that sort of situation. One thing I enjoyed in this book was more information about Benjamin's full sister and how her life differs from his half-sister's.
Second book in the Benjamin January series.
Light years before Benjamin Sisko, there was Benjamin January. One of those quintessentially cool N'awlins-bred gentlemen. If you're a fan of Barbara Hambly's fantasy novels, you'll find this mystery series set in 1830s Louisiana a huge departure -- but please try it anyway. All the books in the series are great. Hambly creates a compelling character in a haunting period of history. This is a special kind of historical fiction: literate, lyrical and highly accessible even if you're not a history buff.
The Benjamin January series features an African American hero who was born in still-French Louisiana at the turn of the 19th century. His mother is the mistress of a plantation owner and his sister is following that path as well. Benjamin went to Paris to train as a doctor and returns to New Orleans only after the death of his beloved wife. This installment has him trying to solve a baffling murder while yellow fever is killing rich and poor all around him.
Great story and really gives you a flavor of old New Orleans.
Interesting account of life in pre-Civil War New Orleans. Characters and story well developed. I highly recommend this book
What was it like to live in New Orleans in 1833? If you read this novel you will experience the heat and humidity, yellow fever, and culture of the time. And, if you happen to be a person of color you will begin to understand the prejudices and distinctions among colors as well. Benjamin January is a surgeon who was educated in Paris where he married and was living happily until his wife died. Returning home he finds that his black skin prevents him from practicing in many parts of the city. Only others of color call on his medical services.
He has been home a year and is now working at the Charity Hospital tending the sick. Exhausted, he meets a young black woman who asks for his help. She is accused of murder and theft but swears she is innocent. Ben is not sure he believes her but her problems is the beginning of a mystery to track down those who are capturing free men and women and selling them out of state as slaves. As he traces searching for clues as to who is kidnapping free mena nd women of color another related mystery surfaces. How and why could the young woman wanting his help disappear completely? No one has seen her or knows where she has gone. In his search he uncovers a ghastly slave owner who is imprisoning and starving slaves. Of course, Ben himself is caught. What happens to Ben and those around him leads to solutions to both questions. It's an exciting read!
He has been home a year and is now working at the Charity Hospital tending the sick. Exhausted, he meets a young black woman who asks for his help. She is accused of murder and theft but swears she is innocent. Ben is not sure he believes her but her problems is the beginning of a mystery to track down those who are capturing free men and women and selling them out of state as slaves. As he traces searching for clues as to who is kidnapping free mena nd women of color another related mystery surfaces. How and why could the young woman wanting his help disappear completely? No one has seen her or knows where she has gone. In his search he uncovers a ghastly slave owner who is imprisoning and starving slaves. Of course, Ben himself is caught. What happens to Ben and those around him leads to solutions to both questions. It's an exciting read!
Book #2 is just as good as the first one!
Summer, 1833, in the heat and horror of the cholera epidemic - a young doctor is swept up into investigating claims against a young plantation waif... investigations that will sweep into a labryinth of opulent town houses, grim cemeteries, raucous taverns, flagrant lies and injustice, and the terror of voodoo...
excellent book about New Orleans during its early years and a young black doctor as he fights a sickness that is running rampant.
This is the 2nd in the Benjamin January series, set in 1830s New Orleans. Hambly is so good at evoking the time and place, and the dangers of the period, that I spent most of the book being afraid for January. The villain is pretty obvious - but I have read this before, even if I didn't remember it hardly at all, that might have made a difference. A wonderful historical mystery.
Love the whole series. Brings New Orleans alive
