The Benjamin January mysteries is a series of historical murder mystery novels by

Barbara Hambly Barbara Hambly (born August 28, 1951) is an American novelist and screenwriter within the genres of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction. She is the author of the bestselling Benjamin January mystery series featuring a fre ...

. The series is named after the main character of the books. The ''Benjamin January mysteries'' are set in and around

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

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, the subsequent ten were published by

Severn House Publishers Severn House Publishers is an independent publisher of fiction in hardcover and ebooks. Severn House specialises in publishing mid-list authors in both the UK and the USA. Established in 1974, Severn House began republishing out-of-print titles ...

. The second book in the series, ''Fever Season'', was named a

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Notable Mystery Book of 1998. Seven books in the series (''Fever Season'', ''Dead Water'', ''The Shirt on His Back'', ''Ran Away'', ''Good Man Friday'', ''Crimson Angel'', and ''Drinking Gourd'' ) have received

starred review A starred review is a book review __NOTOC__ A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piec ...

s from ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''.

Major recurring characters

; Benjamin January: Former

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, freed as a child by his '' placée'' mother's lover. He trained in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

as a surgeon, but works primarily as a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

player and teacher. He is very tall, and very dark-skinned, which is a significant impediment to his medical career in pre–

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

player). He is Anglo-Irish, was educated at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

and plays a "hundred guinea violin" ("Graveyard Dust"). In ''Dead and Buried'', it is revealed that Hannibal's birth name is Alexander Stuart, and that he could, if he wanted, lay claim to the Foxford estate, as Viscount (or Lord, both titles appear in the book) Foxford, the title currently belonging to his son, Germanicus ("Gerry") Stuart, Lord Foxford. Alec (Hannibal) had faked his death in Paris and moved to New Orleans, stating that his wife, Philippa, would be "a better custodian of Foxford Priory than an opium-swilling fiddle player". Since faking his death, Hannibal has lived in poverty. He has

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

, and is addicted to

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). R ...

, though he eventually manages to break both habits. Hannibal is one of the few white people willing to socialize with people of color. The formal white society of Americans is more segregated than that of creole French. ; Dominique "Minou" Janvier: Benjamin's younger mixed-race half-sister, the daughter of his mother and her white protector. Dominique is the ''placée'' of a wealthy white gentleman, Henri, with whom she has a daughter, Charmian. ; Olympe "Olympia Snakebones" Corbier: Benjamin's younger sister (older than Dominique). She is a locally prominent

Voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

practitioner, as well as a wife and mother. Both she and Benjamin were fathered by a slave before their mother became a ''placée''. She was freed at the same time as her mother and brother. Her oldest children, ZiZi-Marie and Gabrielle are also recurring characters. ; Livia Janvier Levesque: The mother of Benjamin, Olympe, and Dominique. She is a former ''placée'', and now a minor land owner. She is half-white, and extremely status-conscious. She was born a slave. Her ''placée'' protector paid for her freedom and that of her children. ;

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Abishag Shaw: A white policeman, originally from Kentucky, who is significantly smarter and better educated than he pretends to be. Unlike many of the other policemen, Shaw is interested in true justice and has often proved sympathetic to Benjamin's concerns. He does not appear to support the institution of slavery, though he obeys the customs of black-white interactions, at least in public. ; Henri Viellard: Dominique's protector and the father of her two children: Charles-Henri (deceased) and Charmian. ; Chloe Viellard (née St. Chinian): Henri's fiancée, later his wife; a young heiress who controls her own property. Chloe likes Dominique and accepts her place with Henri, feeling that they both have a role in his life. ; Augustus Mayerling: Fencing master, introduced in the first book, a woman

passing Passing may refer to: Social identity * Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group ** Passing (gender), presenting oneself as being cisgender ** Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member ...

as a man. She marries Madeleine (Dubonnet) Trepagier at the end of the book "by

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

ceremony." ; Madeleine (Dubonnet) Trepagier Mayerling: Former student of Benjamin's, abused by her late husband, Arnaud Trepagier. Marries Augustus Mayerling at the end of the first book. Both characters recur throughout the series.

Works in the series

The ''Benjamin January mysteries'' series consists of nineteen novels and five short stories to date.

Novels

# ''A Free Man of Color'' (1997) # ''Fever Season'' (1998) # ''Graveyard Dust'' (1999) # ''Sold Down the River'' (2000) # ''Die upon a Kiss'' (2001) # ''Wet Grave'' (2002) # ''Days of the Dead'' (2003) # ''Dead Water'' (2004) # ''Dead and Buried'' (2010) # ''The Shirt on His Back'' (2011) # ''Ran Away'' (2011) # ''Good Man Friday'' (2013) # ''Crimson Angel'' (UK August 2014, US December 2014) # ''Drinking Gourd'' (UK and US February 2016) # ''Murder in July'' (UK August 2017, US December 2017) # ''Cold Bayou'' (UK May 2018, US September 2018) # ''Lady of Perdition'' (UK September 2019, US January 2020) # ''House of the Patriarch'' (UK October 2020, US January 2021) # ''Death and Hard Cider'' (UK March 2022, US June 2022)

Short stories

* "Libre" (2006, published in ''Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine'', November 2006, Salute to New Orleans issue): Benjamin solves a mystery relating to the disappearance of a ''placée''s daughter, who was shortly to have become a ''placée'' herself. Hannibal and Dominique assist. * "There Shall Your Heart Be Also" (2007, published in ''New Orleans Noir''): Benjamin and Hannibal are asked to help when a stranger attempts to steal Kentucky Williams' bible. * "A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven" (2010, self-published): Rose, with the help of Dominique, solves the murder of a neighbor while Benjamin is away during ''The Shirt on His Back''. * "Hagar" (2015, self-published): While attending a costume party, Rose witnesses the murder of a plantation owner's wife. She attempts to protect the maid accused of the crime by finding the real murderer. Hannibal, Livia, and Shaw assist. Set during ''Good Man Friday''. * "Death on the Moon" (2016, self-published): A con-artist comes to New Orleans, claiming he can show aliens living on the moon through the use of a special telescope. When one of the "aliens" is murdered, Rose sets out to find the real victim with the help of Hannibal. Set between ''Days of the Dead'' and ''Dead Water''. All the short stories are available for download on Hambly's website.

Book synopses

; ''A Free Man of Color'': Newly arrived in New Orleans after spending most of his adult life in Paris, Benjamin is accused of the murder of a ''placée'' named Angelique as he is the last known person to see her alive. Benjamin struggles to find the real killer before he is jailed and executed for the murder. He also tries to help the widow of Angelique's former protector, a white woman who may have had her own reasons for wanting Angelique dead. ; ''Fever Season'': During a cholera and

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

epidemic, Benjamin deals with a runaway slave girl, Cora, who is wanted for poisoning her master, Otis Redfern. He also meets Rose, the head-mistress of a school for free colored girls, when he helps to treat several of the students who have yellow fever. The kidnapping of free blacks to sell them as slaves forms a major subplot to the novel.

Delphine LaLaurie Marie Delphine Macarty or MacCarthy (March 19, 1787 – December 7, 1849), more commonly known as Madame Blanque or, after her third marriage, as Madame LaLaurie, was a New Orleans socialite and serial killer who tortured and murdered slav ...

is central to the novel's climax. ; ''Graveyard Dust'': Benjamin's sister Olympe is accused of murder and Benjamin must find the real killer in order to prevent her execution. Olympe's role as a voodoo practitioner is used against her to raise suspicion, and voodoo plays an important part in the mystery.

Marie Laveau Marie Catherine Laveau (September 10, 1801 – June 15, 1881)''Marie Laveau The Mysterious Voodoo Queen: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans'' by Ina Johanna Fandrich was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of ...

is an important secondary character. ; ''Sold Down the River'': The white planter who formerly owned Benjamin and his family asks Benjamin to determine the source of a series of violent incidents on his plantation. Benjamin agrees, but must go undercover as a slave, taking along Hannibal to serve as his master. The ruse places Benjamin in a great deal of danger, as well as bringing back unwelcome memories of his childhood as a slave. ; ''Die upon a Kiss'': An opera troupe, composed mostly of Italians, arrives in New Orleans. Benjamin and Hannibal are hired to play in the orchestra. However, after the director and several other members of the troupe are attacked, Benjamin investigates the cause, which he suspects is related to an attempt to censor the production of an operatic version of ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...

'', due to racist anger over the central black/white romance. In a subplot, Dominique finds herself pregnant and struggles with the decision to keep the child. The smuggling of slaves from Cuba and Africa into America, despite the 1808

Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 (, enacted March 2, 1807) is a United States federal law that provided that no new slaves were permitted to be imported into the United States. It took effect on January 1, 1808, the earliest dat ...

, is another important plot thread. ; ''Wet Grave'': The aging former placée of a pirate is killed under mysterious circumstances. Benjamin and Rose find themselves caught up in the workings of someone else's plot, on the run in the bayous and marshes. Historical events involving pirates, including

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Thi ...

, are relevant to the plot, as well as slave rebellions, leprosy, and hurricanes. Henri and Chloe marry, putting Henri and Dominique's relationship in peril. Benjamin and Rose marry at the end of the book. ; ''Days of the Dead'': In Mexico City, Hannibal has been accused of poisoning the son of a prominent local landowner. Benjamin and Rose, at his request, come to find the true murderer amid a complicated tangle of relationships and suspects, and to rescue Hannibal both from execution and from captivity by a rich madman. Santa Anna plays a minor role in the plot. ; ''Dead Water'': A great deal of money has been embezzled from the bank where Benjamin and Rose keep their money. To prevent the bank's collapse, and thus save Rose's school for colored girls, Benjamin, Rose, and Hannibal follow the embezzler onto a steamboat to recover the stolen money. The embezzler's murder complicates matters greatly. The

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

appears for the first time in the series, and Benjamin agrees to join, offering his home as a safe house. This will form a background detail in many of the subsequent novels. Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy, plays a role as one of the other passengers on the steamboat. ; ''Dead and Buried'': At a friend's funeral, Benjamin discovers a different body in the coffin— that of a white man that Hannibal recognizes. Hannibal's history, which he has long kept a secret, proves relevant to the mystery. The issue of '

' plays an important part in the novel. ; ''The Shirt on His Back'': Lieutenant Shaw's younger brother was murdered while working in a fur trading company in the Rocky Mountains. Shaw, Benjamin, and a newly-sober Hannibal travel to a trade rendezvous to find the killer. At the end of the book, Rose gives birth to Benjamin's first child, John. ; ''Ran Away'': A former Turkish ambassador moves to New Orleans, but is the first suspect when two of his concubines are murdered. Nearly half the book takes place in a flashback to Paris, 1827, where Benjamin had previously met the Turk. Benjamin's relationship with his first wife, Ayasha, is described in greater detail. ; ''Good Man Friday'': A friend of Chloe and Henri Viellard disappears while traveling in Washington DC. Chloe, Henri, Dominique, and Benjamin go to the capital to investigate, becoming involved in subplots with early baseball, slave-stealers, mathematical codes, and

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

. ; ''Crimson Angel'': Rose's white half-brother is murdered in a plot to recover the Vitrac family's long-lost treasure (as well as secrets hidden with the money) from their former sugar plantation on Haiti. After an attempt on Rose's life, she and Benjamin retreat to the countryside of southern Louisiana. When the killers follow them there, Rose, Benjamin, and Hannibal head to Cuba to investigate before eventually reaching Haiti itself. ; ''Drinking Gourd'': Benjamin and Hannibal take summer jobs working for a traveling

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...

, which brings them to

Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...

, Mississippi. While there, Benjamin's connections on the Underground Railroad call on his aid both as a doctor and a detective. An important organizer has been accused of murder, and it is up to Benjamin to prove his innocence without revealing the secrets of the Underground Railroad. ; ''Murder in July'': When an Englishman is found dead in New Orleans, the British consul – who met Benjamin during his visit to Washington, D.C. – offers Benjamin a reward to solve the case. Benjamin is at first reluctant to get involved, but as matters complicate, he realizes that this murder is connected to another one he investigated in 1832 in Paris, during the

June Rebellion The June Rebellion, or the Paris Uprising of 1832 (french: Insurrection républicaine à Paris en juin 1832), was an anti-monarchist insurrection of Parisian republicans on 5 and 6 June 1832. The rebellion originated in an attempt by republi ...

. The book alternates between the two time periods, allowing Ayasha and other characters from ''Ran Away'' to reappear. Hannibal is revealed to have knowledge about both cases. ; ''Cold Bayou'': A friend of Benjamin and Rose, the elderly Veryl St-Chinian, has engaged himself to an eighteen-year-old illiterate former prostitute. The rich St-Chinian family is outraged at the thought of the upcoming marriage, particularly as it would give the bride financial control of the family's vast holdings. When the bride's maid is murdered in what may have been an attempt on the bride's life, Benjamin sets out to investigate. The stakes are raised when it's revealed that the bride holds the papers to a long-ago debt from Simon Fourchet, Benjamin's former owner, meaning Ben, his mother, siblings, and children may all still be legally slaves.

Analysis

The series, beginning with ''A Free Man of Color'', follows Benjamin January, a brilliant, classically educated free colored surgeon and musician living in New Orleans during the ''

belle epoque Belle may refer to: * Belle (''Beauty and the Beast'') * Belle (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Belle (surname), a list of people Brands and enterprises * Belle Air, a former airline with headquarters in Tirana, Albania ...

'' of the 1830s, when New Orleans had a large and prosperous free colored ' 'demimonde''. January was born a slave but freed as a young child and provided with an excellent education; he is fluent in several classical and modern languages and thoroughly versed in the whole of classical Western learning and arts. Although trained in Paris as a surgeon, he has returned to Louisiana to escape the memory of his dead Parisian wife. As he is a very dark-skinned black man, he cannot find work as a surgeon in Louisiana. Instead, he earns a modest living as a musician. Each title is an entertaining murder mystery with a complex plot and well-developed characters, and each explores many aspects of

Creole Creole may refer to: Anthropology * Creole peoples, ethnic groups which originated from linguistic, cultural, and often racial mixing of colonial-era emigrants from Europe with non-European peoples * Criollo people, the historic name of people ...

society. However, most tend to emphasize some particular element of antebellum Louisiana life, such as

religion (''Graveyard Dust''), opera and music (''Die Upon a Kiss''), the annual epidemics of

and

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or deat ...

(''Fever Season''), fear of

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different Race (human categorization), races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to m ...

(''Dead and Buried''), or the harsh nature of commercial sugar production (''Sold Down the River''). Important themes running throughout the series are 1) the cultural clash between the rising Protestant English-speaking Anglo-Americans on the one hand and the declining Catholic, French-speaking Creoles on the other, 2) the extreme regard of Creole society for "how" colored a person is (quite alien to modern readers), 3) January's bitterness at the many forms of racial injustice he observes, 4) the complex, partially race-based sexual politics of colonial French society, and 5) January's ongoing attempts to balance the primal, open, and frank African outlook acquired in his early childhood with the more restrained and rational European worldview he now holds. This last theme occurs most often with respect to music, spirituality, and respect for law and social custom.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin January Mysteries Novels about American slavery Novels by Barbara Hambly Novels set in New Orleans Novels set in the 1830s Novel series Fictional historical detectives Fictional amateur detectives Fictional African-American people