A Free Man of Color
A lush and haunting novel of a city steeped in decadent pleasures...and of a man, proud and defiant, caught in a web of murder and betrayal.It is 1833. In the midst of Mardi Gras, Benjamin January, a Creole physician and music teacher, is playing piano at the Salle d'Orleans when the evenings...
show more
A lush and haunting novel of a city steeped in decadent pleasures...and of a man, proud and defiant, caught in a web of murder and betrayal.It is 1833. In the midst of Mardi Gras, Benjamin January, a Creole physician and music teacher, is playing piano at the Salle d'Orleans when the evenings festivities are interrupted--by murder.Ravishing Angelique Crozat, a notorious octoroon who travels in the city's finest company, has been strangled to death. With the authorities reluctant to become involved, Ben begins his own inquiry, which will take him through the seamy haunts of riverboatmen and into the huts of voodoo-worshipping slaves.But soon the eyes of suspicion turn toward Ben—for, black as the slave who fathered him, this free man of color is still the perfect scapegoat....
show less
Format: mass market paperback
ISBN:
9780553575262 (0553575260)
Publish date: June 1st 1998
Publisher: Bantam
Pages no: 432
Edition language: English
Category:
Fantasy,
Literature,
Cultural,
Historical Fiction,
Adult,
African American,
Mystery,
Detective,
19th Century,
Historical Mystery,
Thriller,
Mystery Thriller,
Crime
Series: Benjamin January (#1)
I first discovered Hambly by reading her fantasy. In fact, the book was Dragonsbane. But, I think her real love is historical fiction because her historical fiction is better. This was the first her historical fiction I read. It is the start of the Ben January series. Ben is a free man of color in r...
I discovered this series by accident, picking up somewhere in the middle of it. Luckily, the books are able to stand on their own without starting at the beginning!Anyway, this book introduces Benjamin Janvier, a free man of color in Jacksonian New Orleans. He is a musician by trade, although he stu...
2015 Reading Challenge: A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
First Benjamin January mystery. It’s moody, atmospheric, somewhat depressing in a certain way. Certainly well written, and I liked it enough to go on to the next. However, the solution to that one was quite upsetting to me, and I’m not sure whether to continue. People who’ve read more of them: is th...
Ben January has several problems. The least of which was traveling from Europe back to his home of New Orleans after the death of his wife. He doesn’t get along with his mother. He finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery. He doesn’t make enough money. Oh, and he’s a black man in New Orl...
Log in with Facebook 
