The first Benjamin January/Javier mystery set in 1833 New Orleans and featuring a black musician/doctor as our POV character/sleuth.

The backstory of this mystery is, in my observation, more interesting than the mystery to be solved. I wasn't able to get into the book on first read, and made it to chapter 3 before shelving it. I re-tried the story, and got all the way through this time. It's a very evocative piece of writing, it's got a lot of characters whose interactions are very interesting, and in the end I was gruntled enough to give it three stars.

What I found irksome was the mystery itself. The sleuth's reasons for investigating the murder are, in theory, the strongest possible. Why then was I so indifferent to the crime and the eventual punishment? Because I don't think the author was fully engaged with that aspect of the story. It's not that it felt perfunctory, exactly, but it felt...extraneous...like she put it in so she'd have a reason to tell us a story in this setting.

Since it's the first of a series, I might pick up the next and see if there's some change that could make me follow the rest...but frankly, it's low on my priority list. Check back in 2013 or so (assuming the world doesn't end in 2012).

Neutral response...hazard at your own risk, historical fans. ( )

...January trained and practiced as a surgeon in Paris, but as the story begins he is recently widowed and, feeling adrift, has returned home to his mother and half-sister. In New Orleans, a black man cannot make a living practicing medicine, so January falls back on his other talent, music, as a piano teacher and player at balls and celebrations.

The city he has returned to is one in which the familiar hypocrisies and cruelties of tradition are being shaken up and thrown in sharp relief by a whole new set of hypocrisies and cruelties coming in with an influx of U.S.-ian 'immigrants' (sound familiar?) who are seen as low class but wield tremendous economic power over the decadent Creole planters. To Creole culture, the fact that Benjamin is three-quarters of African descent while his half-sister Dominique is three-quarters white is a vital, life-altering distinction; to the Americans, they're both just black and both perfectly good prospects for kidnapping and slavery.

Neither attitude is going to do January much good when he is the last person to admit to seeing a beautiful 'octoroon' courtesan alive at a masked Mardi Gras ball for wealthy Creole men and their mistresses....

More here ( )

It is 1830's New Orleans and Benjamin January has returned home from France after the death of his wife. Unfortunately he has forgotten how very different attitudes toward blacks are in the Americas. Hambly describes the extensive caste system arrising from interracial relations with great sensitivity and attention to detail. I was also impressed by her descriptions of New Orleans and Louisiana in this historical period. You can smell the sweetness of honeysuckle and jasmine as well as the less savory smells of the slums. At quiet times I could almost feel as if I was walking the streets with Ben. Now, that is good writing. The plot itself is a well written mystery involving intrigue, deception, and murder with a twist at the end. Recommended. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/d... ( )

I really like this series. [Barbara Hambly] can really make the New Orleans of pre-Civil War come alive. Her characters are well written, the plot complex, and the writing itself is wonderful. ( )