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Benjamin January #11
Ran Away
The new Benjamin January novel from the best-selling author
RAN AWAY. So began a score of advertisements every week in the New Orleans newspapers, advertising for slaves who'd fled their masters. But the Turk, Hüseyin Pasha, posted no such advertisement when his two lovely concubines disappeared. And when a witness proclaimed he'd seen the 'devilish infidel' hurl their dead bodies out of a window, everyone was willing to believe him the murderer. Only Benjamin January, who knows the Turk of old, is willing to seek for the true culprit, endangering his own life in the process . . .
RAN AWAY. So began a score of advertisements every week in the New Orleans newspapers, advertising for slaves who'd fled their masters. But the Turk, Hüseyin Pasha, posted no such advertisement when his two lovely concubines disappeared. And when a witness proclaimed he'd seen the 'devilish infidel' hurl their dead bodies out of a window, everyone was willing to believe him the murderer. Only Benjamin January, who knows the Turk of old, is willing to seek for the true culprit, endangering his own life in the process . . .
256 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2011
21 people are currently reading
486 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Hambly
204 books1,580 followersaka Barbara Hamilton
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
August 11, 2011
At an early point in this book I sort of poinged! and said aloud (to the great confusion of my co-workers), "Ayasha's book!"
Let me step back: this is not a prequel to the series, where Benjamin January, a free man of color, lives in nineteenth century New Orleans. But there is a frame to a fairly extensive flashback (which contains its own little mystery about a runaway girl), so this remains the rightful sequel to The Shirt on His Back.
I was excited to meet Benjamin's first wife, Ayasha, who's been referenced in the earlier books of this series; eager, too, to see how Ben lived in Paris without the chains of social restraints against people with dark skin. And this period is evoked beautifully: Benjamin is lighter-hearted, prone to teasing his wife, who is very much a vivid personality. I'm only sorry it took this long to get to meet her.
In contrast, Rose seems to only get a cameo role, little moments that reminded me why I liked her but hardly enough to bring her out as a true equal to Benjamin. This is pretty important when the man is suddenly having yearning dreams about his first wife -- a matter handled with delicate care by the end, but which felt clumsy along the way. I'm also frankly astonished that .
Of course, Ben's time at home is limited because he's trying to solve a murder -- or rather, unsolve it for everyone who's convinced that a Turkish man indeed pushed his two concubines to their death out of his front window. Why Ben's bothering to do this is based upon a past encounter. Then mix in drug addiction, the Underground Railway, American reactions to a Muslim, cross-dressing, a man with gold in a time of economic depression, early forensic techniques with a microscope...
Is your head swimming? Mine was. Each of these things were so interesting on its own, but they all just served the greater murder mystery.
For sheer setting flavor and marvelous characters and strong writing, this book deserves a higher rating. There's a reason I'm willing to buy hardcover editions for this series. But it felt crammed full of too much, and while it all connected in the end, the ride was a bit bumpy for me. Don't get me wrong: I still love Benjamin January and will happily acquire the next one in hardcover as well. But I wouldn't call this the strongest of the set.
Let me step back: this is not a prequel to the series, where Benjamin January, a free man of color, lives in nineteenth century New Orleans. But there is a frame to a fairly extensive flashback (which contains its own little mystery about a runaway girl), so this remains the rightful sequel to The Shirt on His Back.
I was excited to meet Benjamin's first wife, Ayasha, who's been referenced in the earlier books of this series; eager, too, to see how Ben lived in Paris without the chains of social restraints against people with dark skin. And this period is evoked beautifully: Benjamin is lighter-hearted, prone to teasing his wife, who is very much a vivid personality. I'm only sorry it took this long to get to meet her.
In contrast, Rose seems to only get a cameo role, little moments that reminded me why I liked her but hardly enough to bring her out as a true equal to Benjamin. This is pretty important when the man is suddenly having yearning dreams about his first wife -- a matter handled with delicate care by the end, but which felt clumsy along the way. I'm also frankly astonished that .
Of course, Ben's time at home is limited because he's trying to solve a murder -- or rather, unsolve it for everyone who's convinced that a Turkish man indeed pushed his two concubines to their death out of his front window. Why Ben's bothering to do this is based upon a past encounter. Then mix in drug addiction, the Underground Railway, American reactions to a Muslim, cross-dressing, a man with gold in a time of economic depression, early forensic techniques with a microscope...
Is your head swimming? Mine was. Each of these things were so interesting on its own, but they all just served the greater murder mystery.
For sheer setting flavor and marvelous characters and strong writing, this book deserves a higher rating. There's a reason I'm willing to buy hardcover editions for this series. But it felt crammed full of too much, and while it all connected in the end, the ride was a bit bumpy for me. Don't get me wrong: I still love Benjamin January and will happily acquire the next one in hardcover as well. But I wouldn't call this the strongest of the set.
December 19, 2011
Barbara Hambly is still at the top of her game in this addition to the much-loved Benjamin January series.
In this book, we get to "meet" Ayasha, Ben's first wife, for the first time. I wish I had seen more of her character than "feisty, but generous"- I'm sure living as a Berber immigrant in Paris could not have been easy for her. There's a lot more to Ayasha's story than we got here. We essentially have a pair of mysteries- a Turk in New Orleans has been accused of murdering his concubines and pitching them out his front window. Everyone knows that he did it because of "the insane jealousy of the Turk." Ben, however, knew this man in Paris and simply can't believe it.
So we get an extended visit back in time to Paris so we learn how Ben knows this man. I've been seeing a lot of stuff with Paris recently - Midnight in Paris, Hugo- and I keep falling in love with the city more each time. Hambly does her usual splendid job of evoking setting and character. In Paris, January and Ayasha must solve the mystery of a runaway concubine.
Next, we're back in New Orleans trying to figure out what really happened to these poor women. The usual folks appear- January's mother, Dominique, Rose, Hannibal, Shaw. The mystery is a bit spinny, and perhaps solved a bit too neatly with a bit of a reach. But I love visiting this time and place, with these characters. This beautiful and terrible period, these tragic and heroic souls, always evoke in me a feeling of sadness and yet a bit of wistfulness too, at the same time that I feel awfully lucky to be in this when-and-where.
This novel also tackles the meaning of slavery in other cultures. Hambly has actually managed to create a sympathetic conservative Muslim character, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. "To each country, it's own custom", she says, noting that our attitudes toward slavery at the same time weren't exactly enlightened either. True, but I still can't forgive the treatment of women in the more repressive Muslim societies today. As a man of his time and place, however, the Pasha was a good man.
In this book, we get to "meet" Ayasha, Ben's first wife, for the first time. I wish I had seen more of her character than "feisty, but generous"- I'm sure living as a Berber immigrant in Paris could not have been easy for her. There's a lot more to Ayasha's story than we got here. We essentially have a pair of mysteries- a Turk in New Orleans has been accused of murdering his concubines and pitching them out his front window. Everyone knows that he did it because of "the insane jealousy of the Turk." Ben, however, knew this man in Paris and simply can't believe it.
So we get an extended visit back in time to Paris so we learn how Ben knows this man. I've been seeing a lot of stuff with Paris recently - Midnight in Paris, Hugo- and I keep falling in love with the city more each time. Hambly does her usual splendid job of evoking setting and character. In Paris, January and Ayasha must solve the mystery of a runaway concubine.
Next, we're back in New Orleans trying to figure out what really happened to these poor women. The usual folks appear- January's mother, Dominique, Rose, Hannibal, Shaw. The mystery is a bit spinny, and perhaps solved a bit too neatly with a bit of a reach. But I love visiting this time and place, with these characters. This beautiful and terrible period, these tragic and heroic souls, always evoke in me a feeling of sadness and yet a bit of wistfulness too, at the same time that I feel awfully lucky to be in this when-and-where.
This novel also tackles the meaning of slavery in other cultures. Hambly has actually managed to create a sympathetic conservative Muslim character, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. "To each country, it's own custom", she says, noting that our attitudes toward slavery at the same time weren't exactly enlightened either. True, but I still can't forgive the treatment of women in the more repressive Muslim societies today. As a man of his time and place, however, the Pasha was a good man.
December 12, 2012
This book felt like two separate stories with a very thin connection between them. The first hundred pages involve January's search for a missing girl in Paris ten years before, and we finally get to meet the living Ayasha, January's first wife.
We've had - what? - ten books that tell us of the deep love he had for this woman whose death drove him back to the land of his birth, a place he'd sworn never to visit again. His grief and yearning were as much a part of his character as the slow blossoming of his love for Rose. The problem is that after meeting Ayasha, I don't get it. Hambly, who usually writes such strong and interesting female lead characters, gives us a largely absent woman who pops in from time to time to throw out a sassy comment or eat all of the half-starved January's dinner/breakfast/lunch/whatever food he's managed to grab between teaching & playing gigs.
After all that time & expectation, Ayasha was mostly a letdown for me and I just didn't buy the appeal.
We return to January's present, ten years later, back in New Orleans with Rose and their newborn son, and to a rather muddled murder mystery involving one of the same principals from the Paris story. Added to that is their newfound occupation of underground railroad "station," which gets almost no exploration. January's family plays a disappointingly small role: Olympe was only mentioned a couple of times (like an actress on a pregnancy break from her tv series), Rose is understanding for a paragraph or two, and Dominique gets to flutter around in a small cameo.
With such phoned-in performances by the lead characters, it was impossible to sell the VERRRRRRRRRRRY thin coincidence at the end, and the reveal was more of a hohum than an aha.
Not my favorite. I might have to go back and re-read some of the earlier ones to remind me of why I liked this series in the first place.
(P.S.: "Abu" means "father" in Arabic, not "servant.")
We've had - what? - ten books that tell us of the deep love he had for this woman whose death drove him back to the land of his birth, a place he'd sworn never to visit again. His grief and yearning were as much a part of his character as the slow blossoming of his love for Rose. The problem is that after meeting Ayasha, I don't get it. Hambly, who usually writes such strong and interesting female lead characters, gives us a largely absent woman who pops in from time to time to throw out a sassy comment or eat all of the half-starved January's dinner/breakfast/lunch/whatever food he's managed to grab between teaching & playing gigs.
After all that time & expectation, Ayasha was mostly a letdown for me and I just didn't buy the appeal.
We return to January's present, ten years later, back in New Orleans with Rose and their newborn son, and to a rather muddled murder mystery involving one of the same principals from the Paris story. Added to that is their newfound occupation of underground railroad "station," which gets almost no exploration. January's family plays a disappointingly small role: Olympe was only mentioned a couple of times (like an actress on a pregnancy break from her tv series), Rose is understanding for a paragraph or two, and Dominique gets to flutter around in a small cameo.
With such phoned-in performances by the lead characters, it was impossible to sell the VERRRRRRRRRRRY thin coincidence at the end, and the reveal was more of a hohum than an aha.
Not my favorite. I might have to go back and re-read some of the earlier ones to remind me of why I liked this series in the first place.
(P.S.: "Abu" means "father" in Arabic, not "servant.")
December 17, 2011
Another delightful outing from Hambly. I was explaining to a friend how I now read so many more new (to me) authors than I ever have, but so many of those books make me forget what a deep, abiding pleasure that reading can be. When I read Hambly, I always find that deeply absorbed, completely immersed pleasure again.
As well, Hambly's one of the few White authors who, to my mind, writes of other races and cultures with lucid mindfulness and a humanist empathy that seemed remarkable before I started reading so widely and now that I do, seems almost completely unique.
This outing gets deeper into Benjamin January's exile in Paris; not just the still-painful memories of his dead wife, Ayasha, but the places and friends he knew so intimately and left behind when he returned to America. It adds fullness not only to Ben's backstory and character, but a greater context of the tragedy of Ayasha's death and how much it cost him to leave that piece of his life behind, regardless of the happiness he's found now.
Because the book goes so quickly into an extended flashback, I was worried that the bulk of the mystery would be set in the past, in Paris, and that the secondary mystery presented in the prologue would end up being an afterthought. I really needn't have worried, though; Hambly did an excellent job of blending those past and present events--and events and characters from the series--into a single, cohesive ans satisfying whole. I'm so pleased Severn House picked up and continues to publish this series; I'll keep buying them as long as Hambly keeps writing them.
As well, Hambly's one of the few White authors who, to my mind, writes of other races and cultures with lucid mindfulness and a humanist empathy that seemed remarkable before I started reading so widely and now that I do, seems almost completely unique.
This outing gets deeper into Benjamin January's exile in Paris; not just the still-painful memories of his dead wife, Ayasha, but the places and friends he knew so intimately and left behind when he returned to America. It adds fullness not only to Ben's backstory and character, but a greater context of the tragedy of Ayasha's death and how much it cost him to leave that piece of his life behind, regardless of the happiness he's found now.
Because the book goes so quickly into an extended flashback, I was worried that the bulk of the mystery would be set in the past, in Paris, and that the secondary mystery presented in the prologue would end up being an afterthought. I really needn't have worried, though; Hambly did an excellent job of blending those past and present events--and events and characters from the series--into a single, cohesive ans satisfying whole. I'm so pleased Severn House picked up and continues to publish this series; I'll keep buying them as long as Hambly keeps writing them.
March 10, 2013
Another enjoyable book in this mystery series set in 1830’s New Orleans - except about a third of this one takes place 10 years earlier, when Benjamin Janvier is living in Paris and married to his first wife, the dressmaker Ayasha. It was very nice to read about their time together, and Benjamin’s lasting grief is poignant.
A rich Turkish man, a newcomer to New Orleans, is accused of murdering his two concubines. Benjamin knew the Turk in Paris (their mutual adventures are described in that long flashback) and tries to prove his innocence.
The book is full of amazing coincidences and last-minute rescues, but as always, the atmosphere is wonderful, and I’m very attached to these characters.
A rich Turkish man, a newcomer to New Orleans, is accused of murdering his two concubines. Benjamin knew the Turk in Paris (their mutual adventures are described in that long flashback) and tries to prove his innocence.
The book is full of amazing coincidences and last-minute rescues, but as always, the atmosphere is wonderful, and I’m very attached to these characters.
February 4, 2022
I don’t know if this is genuinely a lesser work in the series, or if they just work better for me when I read them more widely spaced in time. I do think the structure with the single giant flashback is objectively awkward, though.
February 14, 2020
There are precious few of the Benjamin January books that I haven't fully adored. This one was not an exception but I don't think it was as drenched in its rendition of place as were some of the ones I've read previously. And I found it rather convoluted with regard to the mystery. But at long last, we find out about Ben's first wife, Aysha. While I adore Rose, I think that her character's reaction to the issues that her husband has regarding his first wife is not quite believable. Still, it was a good read, just not the best.
September 16, 2021
I've been going back to finish reading this series, which I somehow lost track of after reading the first few books and enjoying them.
This one finally gives us a flashback to Ayasha, Benjamin January's first wife, the one whose death affected him so greatly. In some ways, this was a good introduction to her, but in others, not so much. The source of the great feelings between them may still require another story, but this one showed us her intelligence and her will.
The format of splitting the story, to give the back story of why Benjamin believed in the innocence of an accused man, was interesting. The actual mystery this time was pretty complicated, and I have to say that I hadn't figured out some parts of it before the reveal, but was able to see the reasoning afterwards, so I count that as a good mystery story.
This novel would not be a good jumping-on point for the series, though, because too many of the character interactions are based on things from earlier books in the series. With that minor warning, I do recommend it for those who have read the earlier books, but you haven't, then please start earlier in the series.
This one finally gives us a flashback to Ayasha, Benjamin January's first wife, the one whose death affected him so greatly. In some ways, this was a good introduction to her, but in others, not so much. The source of the great feelings between them may still require another story, but this one showed us her intelligence and her will.
The format of splitting the story, to give the back story of why Benjamin believed in the innocence of an accused man, was interesting. The actual mystery this time was pretty complicated, and I have to say that I hadn't figured out some parts of it before the reveal, but was able to see the reasoning afterwards, so I count that as a good mystery story.
This novel would not be a good jumping-on point for the series, though, because too many of the character interactions are based on things from earlier books in the series. With that minor warning, I do recommend it for those who have read the earlier books, but you haven't, then please start earlier in the series.
August 26, 2023
Another magnificent Benjamin January novel. I was delighted to meet his first wife, Ayasha, in the mystery that took the first third of the book and it makes his feelings of loss at her death more understandable.
Hannibal Sefton, Abishag Shaw and Rose make their usual delightful appearances and are all involved in saving Pasha’s household and proving his innocence.
The resolution of the book involved a number of considerable coincidences, lots of convoluted activity and some unbelievable action (where Benjamin helped Pasha escape from his chains in the bowels of a sea-going vessel) but it was all well written and exciting.
Hannibal Sefton, Abishag Shaw and Rose make their usual delightful appearances and are all involved in saving Pasha’s household and proving his innocence.
The resolution of the book involved a number of considerable coincidences, lots of convoluted activity and some unbelievable action (where Benjamin helped Pasha escape from his chains in the bowels of a sea-going vessel) but it was all well written and exciting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2019
There are so many prejudices in this world! Skin color, nationality, religion - all are used as an excuse to hate. Ms. Hambly, in her novels, shows how false and cruel such prejudices are. This novel was full of excitement. There were supposedly "good" men who thought nothing of using murder and lies to acquire riches. There were truly good men who were accused of wrong-doing as a cover up for another's crime. Take your pick.
August 6, 2025
(Okay: it's lovely to read things set in antebellum America, which I've been soaking myself in for years now. Glad I bought as many of the Benjamin January books as I did.) Really enjoyed seeing Benjamin's life in Paris (three years after Samuel Goodrich visited) and how it's still affecting his life in New Orleans. Hambly's setting is vivid and feels real, and her characters feel three-dimensional.
June 19, 2017
Not one of my favorite Benjamin January mysteries. A bit slow and lagging in adventure like the others. The back and forth was a bit confusing because there weren't headline type indicators to prepare your mind. This story did have a good unusual plot; just needed more umph. Ms Hambly is such a good writer that it's a good read regardless.
November 28, 2020
A little hard to follow.
While I love this series, I found this book a little hard to follow. The back and forth in Paris, and the abrupt ending made it less a favorite with me, though still a worthy read.
While I love this series, I found this book a little hard to follow. The back and forth in Paris, and the abrupt ending made it less a favorite with me, though still a worthy read.
January 11, 2022
The one where we learn a bit more about Ayasha.
Solid entry. It's always interesting when Hambly introduces other cultures. I feel like she does a respectable job of portraying interactions between groups in a historically accurate way.
Solid entry. It's always interesting when Hambly introduces other cultures. I feel like she does a respectable job of portraying interactions between groups in a historically accurate way.
June 24, 2017
It was so good to finally meet Ayasha, after 10 books of Benjamin's stories about her. It added a depth and a wistfulness to the book that I really loved.
September 1, 2017
This one flashes back to his time in Paris, then forward to a new encounter with those characters. Lots of twists and intrigue in this one plus an international element with a Turkish household.
October 15, 2019
One of the 12 best mysteries I read in 2012.
September 14, 2021
Superb!
April 11, 2022
One of my far too rare forays into the Benjamin January universe.
I really enjoyed this! It took me a while to read, but that's only because I caught Covid halfway through. A really interesting book, well plotted as ever and doing great honour to the characters.
I really enjoyed this! It took me a while to read, but that's only because I caught Covid halfway through. A really interesting book, well plotted as ever and doing great honour to the characters.
August 12, 2024
Ben January's flashback to Paris & his late wife, and flash-forward to his present life in New Orleans centered around a mysterious Turk.
January 2, 2021
So nice to see an extended flashback to January's life in Paris with Ayasha, though makes for a less focused narrative.
September 19, 2015
I stalled about 60 pages in for three years, after the *very* fast-paced opening. (Always nice to get the murder over with in the second paragraph!) It's a very dramatic opening, given that Ben has almost never spoken of Ayasha, his late first wife, in all of the previous ten books - and especially not in front of his intense and memorably spiky mother.
[Two and a half pages of text]
"I will not believe it," he went on quietly. "I know the man--"
"Nonsense, Benjamin, of course you don't."
"--and he would not do such a thing. He saved the life of my wife."
"Don't be silly, Rose has never even met--"
"Not Rose," said January. "Ayasha."
[End of prologue!]
[Cut to a set of events ten years earlier in 1827 Paris . . . ]
It was really nice to see a younger, happier Ben, more at ease. And really nice to finally meet Ayasha in more than the occasional couple paragraph flashback (and of course the cats Hadji and Habibi)! Essentially the book is two long novellas, one nested inside the other - 100 pages of 1827 France, inserted after the prologue, followed by 150 pages of 1837 New Orleans, with a decade-older, more angsty Ben who's come home to his broken, prejudiced city after being shattered by Ayasha's death of cholera. After a few novels' worth of events, he eventually let himself love and marry Rose, who's also definitely had her own hard emotional journey to make. Now they have enough money to weather the post-bank-crash depression and take care of their tiny baby, John. At which point Hüseyin Pasha, who saved Ayasha's life a decade ago in Paris and has apparently blown into New Orleans at some point in his ongoing exile from the Ottoman empire, is suddenly accused of murdering his two concubines and throwing them out a window -- and Ben finds himself one of the only people outside Hüseyin Pasha's household who is trying to save his life.
I found the New Orleans-based novella's plot more complex and interesting than the plot of the Paris novella, but the personalities of the characters in the Paris novella to a good extent balance this out. The point I paused at for a few years was an interview with an annoyingly smug and narrow-minded nun, but we also get to see Marguerite Scie (from book 5, Die Upon A Kiss) again, and I liked Chatoine and the gossipy political French artists and musicians and street children, and of course Ayasha. I have a fond place in my heart for the musical versions (both French and English) of Les Misérables, as well as the book itself, and dropping one of my most beloved Hambly characters into the middle of the Les Misérables milieu just gives me a happy feeling all over. While Antryg Windrose is the most awesome trickster/mage/Doctor Who-alike in the multiverses, after following the January series cast for eleven books I feel like a number of these vivid, witty, and idiosyncratic characters are the people I have tea with in my dreams. I need to read about Ben, Rose, Hannibal, Olympe, and Abishag Shaw every collection of X months or I start missing the feeling of being in the same room with them and, as some other Hambly character put it, watching them be themselves.
I'm giving this book only 4 stars for the slight imbalance in the plot arc for events, and for getting extremely complex at the end before Ben solves everything and then tells the reader a few things the narration hasn't mentioned. But the emotional plot arc is just fine, and I cried for the whole last two pages.
It's nice to see characters change after marriage too. Ben and Rose are still the same people and still committed and in love, but they can still grow and learn things. I've never been married myself, but it seems improbable that it would have the effect of freezing people as they are. Even the anti-marriage jokes that bitter divorced people tell don't claim that effect. (More like the opposite.)
[Two and a half pages of text]
"I will not believe it," he went on quietly. "I know the man--"
"Nonsense, Benjamin, of course you don't."
"--and he would not do such a thing. He saved the life of my wife."
"Don't be silly, Rose has never even met--"
"Not Rose," said January. "Ayasha."
[End of prologue!]
[Cut to a set of events ten years earlier in 1827 Paris . . . ]
It was really nice to see a younger, happier Ben, more at ease. And really nice to finally meet Ayasha in more than the occasional couple paragraph flashback (and of course the cats Hadji and Habibi)! Essentially the book is two long novellas, one nested inside the other - 100 pages of 1827 France, inserted after the prologue, followed by 150 pages of 1837 New Orleans, with a decade-older, more angsty Ben who's come home to his broken, prejudiced city after being shattered by Ayasha's death of cholera. After a few novels' worth of events, he eventually let himself love and marry Rose, who's also definitely had her own hard emotional journey to make. Now they have enough money to weather the post-bank-crash depression and take care of their tiny baby, John. At which point Hüseyin Pasha, who saved Ayasha's life a decade ago in Paris and has apparently blown into New Orleans at some point in his ongoing exile from the Ottoman empire, is suddenly accused of murdering his two concubines and throwing them out a window -- and Ben finds himself one of the only people outside Hüseyin Pasha's household who is trying to save his life.
I found the New Orleans-based novella's plot more complex and interesting than the plot of the Paris novella, but the personalities of the characters in the Paris novella to a good extent balance this out. The point I paused at for a few years was an interview with an annoyingly smug and narrow-minded nun, but we also get to see Marguerite Scie (from book 5, Die Upon A Kiss) again, and I liked Chatoine and the gossipy political French artists and musicians and street children, and of course Ayasha. I have a fond place in my heart for the musical versions (both French and English) of Les Misérables, as well as the book itself, and dropping one of my most beloved Hambly characters into the middle of the Les Misérables milieu just gives me a happy feeling all over. While Antryg Windrose is the most awesome trickster/mage/Doctor Who-alike in the multiverses, after following the January series cast for eleven books I feel like a number of these vivid, witty, and idiosyncratic characters are the people I have tea with in my dreams. I need to read about Ben, Rose, Hannibal, Olympe, and Abishag Shaw every collection of X months or I start missing the feeling of being in the same room with them and, as some other Hambly character put it, watching them be themselves.
I'm giving this book only 4 stars for the slight imbalance in the plot arc for events, and for getting extremely complex at the end before Ben solves everything and then tells the reader a few things the narration hasn't mentioned. But the emotional plot arc is just fine, and I cried for the whole last two pages.
It's nice to see characters change after marriage too. Ben and Rose are still the same people and still committed and in love, but they can still grow and learn things. I've never been married myself, but it seems improbable that it would have the effect of freezing people as they are. Even the anti-marriage jokes that bitter divorced people tell don't claim that effect. (More like the opposite.)
November 30, 2021
Not as strong an entry in the series - but I love Ben January and there’s some really good character work for him in this.
June 27, 2013
I am such a fan of this series by Barbara Hambly. Her attention to detail, for me, is one of the hallmarks of her writing. Primarily set in 1840's New Orleans, Hambly describes the venue with such clarity and richness, that you can visualize the scene and smell odors permeating the air. If you have not followed the series or read the books in order, Hambly has a way providing the necessary background in a way that is natural and unobtrusive.
Book 11 of the series finds Benjamin seeking to clear the name of an acquaintance for his past in Paris. Huseyin Pasha, or the "Turk," as he is called in New Orleans, has been charged with the murder of his two concubines after being accused of having thrown them to their deaths from the roof of his house. Benjamin knows that the man he knew in Paris, who sacrificed the only evidence he had against his mortal enemy to save Benjamin's wife, Ayasha, from death, could not have committed the murders. Armed with this knowledge, Benjamin begins his search for the killer even though he knows that it will put his life in jeopardy.
In this book, we learn more of Benjamin's Paris years with Ayasha, a woman he still mourns. Her untimely death during a cholera epidemic causes a broken hearted and bereft Benjamin to return to New Orleans to a life and an existence to which, ten years earlier, he had sworn he would never return. Although Benjamin has found a new love, Rose, to whom he is married, and who has just borne him a son, Benjamin begins to dream of Ayasha with a frequency and vividness that he both relishes and regrets.
The characters Benjamin encounters while trying to find the real murder are classic Hambly. There are twists and turns along the way but in the end, Benjamin finds his "man" and clears the Turks name. The read along the way is delightful.
Book 11 of the series finds Benjamin seeking to clear the name of an acquaintance for his past in Paris. Huseyin Pasha, or the "Turk," as he is called in New Orleans, has been charged with the murder of his two concubines after being accused of having thrown them to their deaths from the roof of his house. Benjamin knows that the man he knew in Paris, who sacrificed the only evidence he had against his mortal enemy to save Benjamin's wife, Ayasha, from death, could not have committed the murders. Armed with this knowledge, Benjamin begins his search for the killer even though he knows that it will put his life in jeopardy.
In this book, we learn more of Benjamin's Paris years with Ayasha, a woman he still mourns. Her untimely death during a cholera epidemic causes a broken hearted and bereft Benjamin to return to New Orleans to a life and an existence to which, ten years earlier, he had sworn he would never return. Although Benjamin has found a new love, Rose, to whom he is married, and who has just borne him a son, Benjamin begins to dream of Ayasha with a frequency and vividness that he both relishes and regrets.
The characters Benjamin encounters while trying to find the real murder are classic Hambly. There are twists and turns along the way but in the end, Benjamin finds his "man" and clears the Turks name. The read along the way is delightful.
February 3, 2017
i really enjoy the Benjamin January series. The writing is so crisp, the scenes devastatingly real. The matter-of-fact bigotry and hatred, the injustice of life for non-whites folded in - (perhaps like it was day-to-day living under such an unconscionable system). For instance: if a white man accuses a black man of anything - the latter is guilty unless he can find 2 (or was it 3?) white men who will say they were there and he is not guilty. Yeah, good luck with that.
The risk of a "free man of color" (New Orleans circa 1830) who is found in the wrong hood? His papers can be destroyed by a kidnapper and voila! he's a slave. Like walking down the street with $1,500 (maybe $50,000? today ? more?) glued to your forehead.
The plots are always a bit confusing and there are a lot of characters - but always satisfying. She can also write hysterically funny bits - like two competing white Protestant ministers damning each other: "...the Reverend Dunk responded in kind... with a very clear demand that God burst Promise's guts asunder and devour him with worms, as God so obligingly did with Herod Agrippa in Acts."
This story also contains anti-Muslim prejudice - the irony of slander re harems in a society with whole classes of “kept women”, (the quad- or octoroon women placées; kept in style by their white French...? johns?). An open secret, their relationships were recognized among the free people of color as mariages de la main gauche.
The best character is always the City. Imagine New Orleans when Marie Leveau still reigned, and Congo Square's events earned the name, when an entire demi-monde existed and everyone played along. A good read.
The risk of a "free man of color" (New Orleans circa 1830) who is found in the wrong hood? His papers can be destroyed by a kidnapper and voila! he's a slave. Like walking down the street with $1,500 (maybe $50,000? today ? more?) glued to your forehead.
The plots are always a bit confusing and there are a lot of characters - but always satisfying. She can also write hysterically funny bits - like two competing white Protestant ministers damning each other: "...the Reverend Dunk responded in kind... with a very clear demand that God burst Promise's guts asunder and devour him with worms, as God so obligingly did with Herod Agrippa in Acts."
This story also contains anti-Muslim prejudice - the irony of slander re harems in a society with whole classes of “kept women”, (the quad- or octoroon women placées; kept in style by their white French...? johns?). An open secret, their relationships were recognized among the free people of color as mariages de la main gauche.
The best character is always the City. Imagine New Orleans when Marie Leveau still reigned, and Congo Square's events earned the name, when an entire demi-monde existed and everyone played along. A good read.
June 24, 2024
Clearly, I'm fully committed to working through the Benjamin January series, which just keeps getting better! Books #9-11 all moved at a compelling clip while immersing the reader in the history, culture and setting of the story. In Book #9, we finally learn a bit more about January's best friend, the Anglo-Irish violinist Hannibal Sefton. His back story has been a long time coming. In Book #10, January and the New Orleans lawman Abishag Shaw set off beyond the Missouri Territory at a time before great swathes of the Midwest and West were in the Union to join a gathering of beaver trappers and solve the mystery of Shaw's brother's murder. As a reader, we get a glimpse of the "wild" West and uneasy interactions between white settlers, East Coast and British fur trapping companies and Native American tribes before the outright and truly genocidal land grabs of Manifest Destiny but not before the devastating small pox pandemics. Hambly's balance of plot and history in Book #10 especially is well-balanced. In Book #11, we're back in New Orleans for part of the time, but are also treated to a deeper look at January's years in Paris when a Turkish official from those years shows up in New Orleans.
As a fan of the series (clearly!), I've appreciated these deeper looks at various characters and locations beyond New Orleans. My only quibble, which is small, is seeing so much less of Rose. I guess it makes sense, given events at the end of Book #10, but I hope for her return to prominence in later novels.
As a fan of the series (clearly!), I've appreciated these deeper looks at various characters and locations beyond New Orleans. My only quibble, which is small, is seeing so much less of Rose. I guess it makes sense, given events at the end of Book #10, but I hope for her return to prominence in later novels.
March 19, 2012
I am a long-time favourite of Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January mysteries, and each one is stellar in its own right. With the last few books we have been getting glimpses into January's life while he was in Paris before he returned home to New Orleans. This book provides even more insight, and we see a whole bunch of new and interesting characters that we've only had glimpses of before such as his first wife Ayasha. And we have all the old friends that we have come to know and love like Hannibal, and Abishag Shaw and his current wife Rose. In this book we see that Benjamin has always been one to pursue justice at considerable risk to his own life. When a man from Benjamin's Paris past who is called "The Turk" who in this book finds himself charged with the murder of his two concubines, January knows in his heart that The Turk is not guilty based on what he knew of him in Paris ten years before. So he proceeds to try to prove his innocence while dodging plots and violence from January's own New Orleans enemies. January must battle his own personal memories in order to try to prove Huseyin Pasha's innocence. Ms. Hambly's period detail is remarkable. We as readers experience the fear and the uncertainty that a free man of colour had to deal with on a daily basis in 1837 New Orleans.
August 6, 2012
It’s a two-for-one mystery, with half the book set in 1827 Paris, and half the book set n 1837 New Orleans, and, of course, everything’s connected.
We finally get to see Ayasha, Ben’s first wife, in the first half, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her character fleshed out, and my heart kind of broke to see, exactly, what ben had lost. We see he’s always been attracted to women with minds of their own. Good for him.
My favorite part was ben and Ayasha, after a long night and day of amateur sleuthing, trying to take a nap. At a knock on the door Ayasha yells out the window:
“Go away! We’re dead!”
It had me in a fit of giggles. Post-Napoleonic Paris is an interesting place, as everyone struggles to figure out the compromise between absolute monarchy and absolute anarchy. And, oh, does everyone eat a lot of baked goods while they do it!
Meanwhile, back in 1837, Ben has gingerly embrace the role as Underground Railroad stationmaster while trying to help an old acquaintance prove he didn’t kill his slaves.
Hambly takes the opportunity to take pot shots at both the West and Middle East this time round, holding no pinches, as usual, with the awfulness of the American institution of slavery, but pointing out other parts of the world, like Europe and the Middle East don’t have much cause to act smug about their own recent past.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2017
This book was, again, a bit of a departure from previous novels. This time, we get to see a little more of Benjamin January's life in Paris, with his first wife (Ayasha). The backdrop is the so-called Sultan's Palace murders, which author Barbara Hambly uses as a way to let us into the world of Muslims during the Jacksonian era.
This time, we have an eyewitness claiming that Huseyin Pasha dropped two of the women from his harim out of an open second-story window in the French Quarter -- and Benjamin January doesn't believe the tale, because Huseyin Pasha saved Ayasha while they all lived in Paris.
So, as always, January, his friend Hannibal Sefton, January's second wife (Rose), and City Guard Lieutenant Abishag Shaw are on the case trying to find out what really happened.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the plot twists, the most crucial of which I really did not see coming at all, and the appearances of historical personages such as Marie Laveau and Bernard Marigny as added color.
I cannot say enough good about this particular series of historical mysteries. While I do find some of them more to my liking than others, overall it's an exceptional batch of whodunnits.
This time, we have an eyewitness claiming that Huseyin Pasha dropped two of the women from his harim out of an open second-story window in the French Quarter -- and Benjamin January doesn't believe the tale, because Huseyin Pasha saved Ayasha while they all lived in Paris.
So, as always, January, his friend Hannibal Sefton, January's second wife (Rose), and City Guard Lieutenant Abishag Shaw are on the case trying to find out what really happened.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the plot twists, the most crucial of which I really did not see coming at all, and the appearances of historical personages such as Marie Laveau and Bernard Marigny as added color.
I cannot say enough good about this particular series of historical mysteries. While I do find some of them more to my liking than others, overall it's an exceptional batch of whodunnits.
March 14, 2013
I really like this series. Sometimes it falls into the same traps that many long mystery series do- repetitive plot points, stock characters, etc.- but I find myself enjoying each individual book. The world of Benjamin January is a fascinating one with many parallels to issues affecting the USA today.
This particular book features mysteries that take place in two different time periods: France in the 1820s and New Orleans in the 1830s. The two are tied together by the common thread of Benjamin January and the anti-Westernization Turkish noble who has a weakness for beautiful women. His character is more multi-faceted and complex than my brief description makes him sound, and I found myself rooting for the characters as they raced against time to solve the "present day" mystery. The only complaint that I had was that the ending of the book seemed a little rushed.
Overall, this is a book that I'd recommend to someone who's read some or all of the other books in the series. Also, I wholeheartedly recommend the Benjamin January series to anyone who loves historical fiction, mysteries, or both.
This particular book features mysteries that take place in two different time periods: France in the 1820s and New Orleans in the 1830s. The two are tied together by the common thread of Benjamin January and the anti-Westernization Turkish noble who has a weakness for beautiful women. His character is more multi-faceted and complex than my brief description makes him sound, and I found myself rooting for the characters as they raced against time to solve the "present day" mystery. The only complaint that I had was that the ending of the book seemed a little rushed.
Overall, this is a book that I'd recommend to someone who's read some or all of the other books in the series. Also, I wholeheartedly recommend the Benjamin January series to anyone who loves historical fiction, mysteries, or both.
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