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Benjamin January #14
Drinking Gourd
Benjamin January must uncover a killer to protect a secret . . .
Benjamin January is called up to Vicksburg, deep in cotton-plantation country, to help a wounded “conductor” of the Underground Railroad – the secret network of safe-houses that guide escaping slaves to freedom. When the chief “conductor” of the “station” is found murdered, Jubal Cain – the coordinator of the whole Railroad system in Mississippi – is accused of the crime. Since Cain can’t expose the nature of his involvement in the railroad, January has to step in and find the true killer, before their covers are blown.
As January probes into the murky labyrinth of slaves, slave-holders, the fugitives who follow the “drinking gourd” north to freedom and those who help them on their way, he discovers that there is more to the situation than meets the eye, and that sometimes there are no easy answers.
Benjamin January is called up to Vicksburg, deep in cotton-plantation country, to help a wounded “conductor” of the Underground Railroad – the secret network of safe-houses that guide escaping slaves to freedom. When the chief “conductor” of the “station” is found murdered, Jubal Cain – the coordinator of the whole Railroad system in Mississippi – is accused of the crime. Since Cain can’t expose the nature of his involvement in the railroad, January has to step in and find the true killer, before their covers are blown.
As January probes into the murky labyrinth of slaves, slave-holders, the fugitives who follow the “drinking gourd” north to freedom and those who help them on their way, he discovers that there is more to the situation than meets the eye, and that sometimes there are no easy answers.
253 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2016
39 people are currently reading
371 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Hambly
205 books1,591 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 61 reviews
March 16, 2016
In the 13th book of the Benjamin January mysteries, Benjamin's participation in the Underground Railroad takes a turn for the complicated. The plot starts when Benjamin is summoned to the small town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where the local Railroad workers need a doctor who knows how to keep secrets. He brings along his friend Hannibal (a white man) for protection, and they soon find that there are many more secrets around than either anticipated.
This is a hard book to talk about without spoilers because of those very secrets. Many characters who seem trustworthy prove not to be, and first appearances count for very little. But without giving away specific plot details, I can say that the book deals with a paradox that's been around since at least Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale: "For though myself be a full vicious man / yet I can tell a moral tale". In this case, if the local Underground Railroad absolutely depends on one man, how much harm can that man do before it balances out the lives he's saving? Does it ever? Can good and evil even be balanced on the same scale like that? Benjamin is forced to ask himself how much he can tolerate to keep open this line of the Underground Railroad.
And he's not the only one facing hard decisions. Many people in this book are striving to justify the balance of good and evil in their lives, or just trying to find the easiest path between two terrible fates. It's a book of incredibly complicated choices, and many of the answers the characters give could be betrayals or salvations; it all depends on your perspective.
Another theme is the position of women (and I kind of mourn the absence of Rose in this book, because I'd love to see her comments on it all. Though I suppose it's easy to guess what she would say). Black and white, free or slave, married or single, upper class or prostitute, they're all trapped by the patriarchy and left with few options. Whether they sacrifice themselves or those with yet less power, there's no way to break those chains without someone suffering for it. Also – I can't think of a way to bring this up subtly – there is a lot of rape in this book (though none of it "on screen"), so if that's something you're sensitive to, be aware.
If there's anything I would critique, it's that Drinking Gourd is a little too busy, especially at the beginning, although it's hard to fault the book for that because there's an enormous cast to be introduced, complete with all of their relationships and rivalries, not to mention a new setting to describe. The mystery hangs on a complicated tangle of 'who knew what when and where were they?', which necessitates the telling of yet more detailed information. Personally, I missed seeing the characters get a chance to simply breathe and spend time together, and I would have liked more space for their emotional reactions after some of the dramatic moments. But that lack (if it even is one; I'm sure some readers are bored with those sort of characterization details and prefer the action) makes room for a book that is one of the grandest in the series, and which grapples with questions of a deeper and darker nature.
You could easily read this book without knowing anything about the rest of the series. It's a book that takes seriously the problems of ethical action in a flawed world, of the impossibility of escaping from any awful situation without causing damage, and it gives a picture of American history which is complicated and layered and hugely engrossing. As dark as this book is, it was hard to stop reading. Highly recommended.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
This is a hard book to talk about without spoilers because of those very secrets. Many characters who seem trustworthy prove not to be, and first appearances count for very little. But without giving away specific plot details, I can say that the book deals with a paradox that's been around since at least Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale: "For though myself be a full vicious man / yet I can tell a moral tale". In this case, if the local Underground Railroad absolutely depends on one man, how much harm can that man do before it balances out the lives he's saving? Does it ever? Can good and evil even be balanced on the same scale like that? Benjamin is forced to ask himself how much he can tolerate to keep open this line of the Underground Railroad.
And he's not the only one facing hard decisions. Many people in this book are striving to justify the balance of good and evil in their lives, or just trying to find the easiest path between two terrible fates. It's a book of incredibly complicated choices, and many of the answers the characters give could be betrayals or salvations; it all depends on your perspective.
Another theme is the position of women (and I kind of mourn the absence of Rose in this book, because I'd love to see her comments on it all. Though I suppose it's easy to guess what she would say). Black and white, free or slave, married or single, upper class or prostitute, they're all trapped by the patriarchy and left with few options. Whether they sacrifice themselves or those with yet less power, there's no way to break those chains without someone suffering for it. Also – I can't think of a way to bring this up subtly – there is a lot of rape in this book (though none of it "on screen"), so if that's something you're sensitive to, be aware.
If there's anything I would critique, it's that Drinking Gourd is a little too busy, especially at the beginning, although it's hard to fault the book for that because there's an enormous cast to be introduced, complete with all of their relationships and rivalries, not to mention a new setting to describe. The mystery hangs on a complicated tangle of 'who knew what when and where were they?', which necessitates the telling of yet more detailed information. Personally, I missed seeing the characters get a chance to simply breathe and spend time together, and I would have liked more space for their emotional reactions after some of the dramatic moments. But that lack (if it even is one; I'm sure some readers are bored with those sort of characterization details and prefer the action) makes room for a book that is one of the grandest in the series, and which grapples with questions of a deeper and darker nature.
You could easily read this book without knowing anything about the rest of the series. It's a book that takes seriously the problems of ethical action in a flawed world, of the impossibility of escaping from any awful situation without causing damage, and it gives a picture of American history which is complicated and layered and hugely engrossing. As dark as this book is, it was hard to stop reading. Highly recommended.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
November 11, 2018
I LOVE Benjamin January. My first book in this series was Wet Graves which brought to life a chapter in US history i knew (know) too little about; early 19th century New Orleans, when it was still French. It is such an engaging book it lead me into a prolonged exploration of New Orleans history, especially before it was part of the USA (and taken over by Kaintucks), voodoo, and graveyards (St Louis #1 being one of the “must see” cemeteries among us cemetery affectionados). And several trips. And, of course, every other Benjamin January book i could get my mitts on.
The majority of the books in this series take place in the south, but a couple recent stories were placed elsewhere (wild wild West, Mexico) and they just didn’t work for me. Something about being a free Black during the slave years lends a precariousness to life that makes the creativity and intelligence needed to survive among the greedy, inhumane and stupid, all the more amazing and, when successful, satisfying.
This book - a fantastic, intricate, unexpected plot - takes place entirely in the South, primarily Mississippi, where - even with papers proving freedom - a Black person is constantly at risk. Papers can be torn up and you might find yourself sold to do backbreaking work ‘til you die. The average survival of a man slave on a cotton plantation was 7 years. Seven years. Creepy, horrible US history
Benjamin, a large, dark Black man who, through the weirdness of the demimonde, was taken from a slave plantation as a child, to be educated and protected by his mother’s white, French, lover, via the Plaçage system. He trained in Paris as a surgeon, speaks many languages, teaches piano (Black doctors, either in France or New Orleans had too few patients to make a living) and is a master detective. Survival means being able (and willing) to play the uneducated slave when necessary, and our hero can slip in and out of character with finesse.
This story involves (as the title predicts) the Underground Railroad and the people - black and white - who made it run. Every stop, every exchange, every moment on this pathway is life threatening, yet hundreds if not thousands of people put their lives at risk in an attempt to bring strangers to freedom. What if their motives, their actions aren't completely altruistic? Can someone be sort of good and partially horrible?
Benjamin plays slave to his friend Hannibal - a white older man, also well educated, who is slowly dying from consumption. Vignettes wherein Benjamin is speaking as an uneducated slave (“Yessuh”) then leaning over, or in a whisper, communicating with Hannibal in Latin, ("Odi profanum vulgas et arceo") are a delight.
Highly recommended.
The majority of the books in this series take place in the south, but a couple recent stories were placed elsewhere (wild wild West, Mexico) and they just didn’t work for me. Something about being a free Black during the slave years lends a precariousness to life that makes the creativity and intelligence needed to survive among the greedy, inhumane and stupid, all the more amazing and, when successful, satisfying.
This book - a fantastic, intricate, unexpected plot - takes place entirely in the South, primarily Mississippi, where - even with papers proving freedom - a Black person is constantly at risk. Papers can be torn up and you might find yourself sold to do backbreaking work ‘til you die. The average survival of a man slave on a cotton plantation was 7 years. Seven years. Creepy, horrible US history
Benjamin, a large, dark Black man who, through the weirdness of the demimonde, was taken from a slave plantation as a child, to be educated and protected by his mother’s white, French, lover, via the Plaçage system. He trained in Paris as a surgeon, speaks many languages, teaches piano (Black doctors, either in France or New Orleans had too few patients to make a living) and is a master detective. Survival means being able (and willing) to play the uneducated slave when necessary, and our hero can slip in and out of character with finesse.
This story involves (as the title predicts) the Underground Railroad and the people - black and white - who made it run. Every stop, every exchange, every moment on this pathway is life threatening, yet hundreds if not thousands of people put their lives at risk in an attempt to bring strangers to freedom. What if their motives, their actions aren't completely altruistic? Can someone be sort of good and partially horrible?
Benjamin plays slave to his friend Hannibal - a white older man, also well educated, who is slowly dying from consumption. Vignettes wherein Benjamin is speaking as an uneducated slave (“Yessuh”) then leaning over, or in a whisper, communicating with Hannibal in Latin, ("Odi profanum vulgas et arceo") are a delight.
Highly recommended.
February 15, 2018
In a mystery series where the protagonist is neither a detective nor a cop, and hence has no business solving crimes, it’s always funny that they don’t seem puzzled to find themselves involved in yet another murder mystery.
This is the 14th such adventure for Benjamin January, physician and musician, who has suffered from every single bit of oppression and angst and horror the author can find to fling at him, and there is quite a lot available to trouble a free man of color living in 1830’s New Orleans. This time he’s chased and treed (twice) by slave hunters and their dogs; he’s nearly kidnapped and sold into slavery; he watches helplessly as an incompetent white doctor bleeds his friend nearly to death; and on top of all that he suffers the indignity of providing music for a minstrel show.
January has gotten involved in the underground railroad, of course, and while touring as a musician with a circus, he receives a summons to help a man who has been injured while helping slaves escape. January travels to Vicksburg, Mississippi with his consumptive white friend Hannibal (who always has a Latin quip on his tongue which Hambly does not translate) tagging along to pose as January’s owner. There is murder and a lot of drama, and much grief caused by wicked white men.
Hambly’s writing is always really good and I love these characters, but the plot here didn’t hold much interest for me. I rather wish this had been about the circus.
This is the 14th such adventure for Benjamin January, physician and musician, who has suffered from every single bit of oppression and angst and horror the author can find to fling at him, and there is quite a lot available to trouble a free man of color living in 1830’s New Orleans. This time he’s chased and treed (twice) by slave hunters and their dogs; he’s nearly kidnapped and sold into slavery; he watches helplessly as an incompetent white doctor bleeds his friend nearly to death; and on top of all that he suffers the indignity of providing music for a minstrel show.
January has gotten involved in the underground railroad, of course, and while touring as a musician with a circus, he receives a summons to help a man who has been injured while helping slaves escape. January travels to Vicksburg, Mississippi with his consumptive white friend Hannibal (who always has a Latin quip on his tongue which Hambly does not translate) tagging along to pose as January’s owner. There is murder and a lot of drama, and much grief caused by wicked white men.
Hambly’s writing is always really good and I love these characters, but the plot here didn’t hold much interest for me. I rather wish this had been about the circus.
December 20, 2025
A perfectly fine entry, though I can't help but feel--particularly reading this back to back with Kinning--that the anger of Black people (and the attitudes of the "good" white people) throughout the series is sanitized for the comfort of the white reader.
July 10, 2016
Once again, a one-sitting read from Barbara Hambly.
Ben is called to Vicksburg, where the Underground Railroad is in need of a surgeon. So off Ben goes, accompanied by Hannibal - necessary protection for a black man in that time and place.
Like many of the books in this series, particularly the later ones, the morality/ethics of the situations in which the characters find themselves are almost more important than the murder-mystery. This is one of the reasons why I think the series as a whole is so good.
Hambly does not write characters who are wholly good or wholly bad (except maybe Ben!), but instead shows the more realistic situation - even "good" people do bad things, and "bad" people do good things. That being the case, how many bad things can a "good" person do before he becomes a "bad" person? And what about the people who know what that person is doing, but don't stop him or her? Does standing by make you complicit?
Then, of course, there is today's regrettable tendency to put people in a simple hierarchy, from top to bottom, starting from the most powerful and going down to the least. Hambly demonstrates that power is multifaceted - a person who is in a fortunate, powerful position in some ways, may not be in others. Furthermore, a person's position on the greasy pole may be dictated just as much by who they know - and how much they are valued by those people - as who they are.
Ethics and morality are rather complicated concepts in the real world, where there are no perfect people, or perfect choices. And Ben, too, has to confront the fact that his and Rose's own relatively happy and secure situation in New Orleans means that he often just isn't faced with the difficult choices that others have to make on a daily basis.
Ben is called to Vicksburg, where the Underground Railroad is in need of a surgeon. So off Ben goes, accompanied by Hannibal - necessary protection for a black man in that time and place.
Like many of the books in this series, particularly the later ones, the morality/ethics of the situations in which the characters find themselves are almost more important than the murder-mystery. This is one of the reasons why I think the series as a whole is so good.
Hambly does not write characters who are wholly good or wholly bad (except maybe Ben!), but instead shows the more realistic situation - even "good" people do bad things, and "bad" people do good things. That being the case, how many bad things can a "good" person do before he becomes a "bad" person? And what about the people who know what that person is doing, but don't stop him or her? Does standing by make you complicit?
Then, of course, there is today's regrettable tendency to put people in a simple hierarchy, from top to bottom, starting from the most powerful and going down to the least. Hambly demonstrates that power is multifaceted - a person who is in a fortunate, powerful position in some ways, may not be in others. Furthermore, a person's position on the greasy pole may be dictated just as much by who they know - and how much they are valued by those people - as who they are.
Ethics and morality are rather complicated concepts in the real world, where there are no perfect people, or perfect choices. And Ben, too, has to confront the fact that his and Rose's own relatively happy and secure situation in New Orleans means that he often just isn't faced with the difficult choices that others have to make on a daily basis.
August 20, 2018
I usually love Benjamin January and the books in this series are usually quite wonderful. There was a long wait for this newest one, and I was excited when I finally got to read it. I had a lot of trouble getting through it. The story is all about the Underground Railroad and the dangers involved with being involved with it, especially down in the deep south. Ben and his friend Hannibal are called down to Vicksburg to help one wounded free coloured conductor of the Underground Railroad. The utmost care must be taken, because no hint of his involvement must get out. So at great risk to themselves, Ben and Hannibal set out, and end up in a hot bed of runaway slaves and the the slave catchers who are out to get them at any cost. The drinking gourd of this story is the Big Dipper which leads the runaways north as they try to escape the oppression of slavery in the south. It all sounded like it would be an exciting read, but I found there was a lot of skipping around and such a large cast of characters that it was difficult to keep track of. the plot and how the characters fit into it. I also found the Benjamin January asides which he held in his head as he experienced the oppression first hand, were distracting to the main story. But i couldn't fault Ms. Hambly's descriptions of the dedication of the people who helped to make the Underground Railroad a success during these troubling times. The plot was too disjointed for me to maintain a vested interest in any of the characters, including Benjamin January, who I usually absolutely love. Disappointed, but I will read the next in the series. Hopefully it will be more cohesive than this one was.
March 19, 2019
Hambly at Her Best
I have read each book in the Benjamin January series and have never been disappointed. Drinking Gourd is no exception and is one of the best in the series. The Januarys' involvement in the Underground Railroad at home in New Orleans leads Benjamin and Hannibal to leave their employment as musicians with a traveling circus, to come to the aid of an injured agent who is in jeopardy of being exposed. His exposure should jeopardize not only that of the station master with whom he works, but that of others along the line. Add in a Quinto, a runaway, two competing preachers, and funds raised to build a church, and closely guarded secrets, and you have an intriguing read.
I have read each book in the Benjamin January series and have never been disappointed. Drinking Gourd is no exception and is one of the best in the series. The Januarys' involvement in the Underground Railroad at home in New Orleans leads Benjamin and Hannibal to leave their employment as musicians with a traveling circus, to come to the aid of an injured agent who is in jeopardy of being exposed. His exposure should jeopardize not only that of the station master with whom he works, but that of others along the line. Add in a Quinto, a runaway, two competing preachers, and funds raised to build a church, and closely guarded secrets, and you have an intriguing read.
May 11, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This was one of a series of books about a sleuth who solves mysteries. But, what makes this special is that the sleuth is a free man of color living in New Orleans in the 1830's. He's a trained doctor but can't find that type of work so he plays the piano at various balls and parties. Each book in the series explores a different aspect of life in the South during slavery. This one examined the Underground Railroad and the plight of women during this time period. Very interesting story and I learned some things. Read it!
April 4, 2017
Where did my review get to?? I posted it months ago...?
March 1, 2022
I love this series! The history and the relationships make it a great series, let alone the mystery factor. Am excited she is still writing them. Benjamin January, free man of color, set in the pre civil war era makes it something different and always keeps my interest.
December 1, 2023
4.5 rounded up
July 26, 2016
I'm a big fan of Hambly's work, so settling in to one of her novels is always a good time. And, as she generally writes a mystery as the central part of her story, I love trying to pick that mystery apart and figure it out ahead of the reveal. That part was enormous fun, as it always is.
But, further than that, one of the reasons that I've always loved the Benjamin January series is that Hambly is a white woman writing about Blackness and slavery and the friction of race in America with incredible thoughtfulness and perception...and relevancy. Which felt especially in focus, and painful and apt, given what's happening in America right now.
Drinking Gourd sees Ben taken from the relative 'safety' of New Orleans (with plenty of reminders that no place in America is safe, even for the free colored) and inserted into Vicksburg Mississippi, and far more dire danger, as part of his work with The Underground Railroad. So I honestly feel like the mystery becomes a secondary consideration in this particular book; Ben's danger, the danger of the particular handful of slaves caught in the middle of all this, the scattershot of other blacks (free and enslaved) and whites tangled in it all, with the threat of violence and death louring over it all...it was a much bigger emotional punch than the intellectual fun of the central murder. At a time when black people are being violently murdered for the most specious of reasons...it hits real hard.
Which, again, is the strength of Hambly's writing, to create something that's both powerfully historical and hurtfully relevant to the modern time. As fiction, it entertains, as something built from history, it hurts. A lot. That's the mirror of history: things have changed but things have not changed.
But, further than that, one of the reasons that I've always loved the Benjamin January series is that Hambly is a white woman writing about Blackness and slavery and the friction of race in America with incredible thoughtfulness and perception...and relevancy. Which felt especially in focus, and painful and apt, given what's happening in America right now.
Drinking Gourd sees Ben taken from the relative 'safety' of New Orleans (with plenty of reminders that no place in America is safe, even for the free colored) and inserted into Vicksburg Mississippi, and far more dire danger, as part of his work with The Underground Railroad. So I honestly feel like the mystery becomes a secondary consideration in this particular book; Ben's danger, the danger of the particular handful of slaves caught in the middle of all this, the scattershot of other blacks (free and enslaved) and whites tangled in it all, with the threat of violence and death louring over it all...it was a much bigger emotional punch than the intellectual fun of the central murder. At a time when black people are being violently murdered for the most specious of reasons...it hits real hard.
Which, again, is the strength of Hambly's writing, to create something that's both powerfully historical and hurtfully relevant to the modern time. As fiction, it entertains, as something built from history, it hurts. A lot. That's the mirror of history: things have changed but things have not changed.
August 3, 2016
I love this series, and was dismayed when I discovered after the release date that it was already out. I auto-ordered my print copy (reserved for special books, now that my apartment is, shall we say, overbooked) and got the ebook immediately. Then I somehow held out a couple of days until a plane trip, whereupon I began devouring it.
Plane books are for me usually slick-paced action affairs or goofily humorous volumes of diffident weight. But Benjamin January is readable under any circumstances: at high altitudes, late at night after a tiring day, way too early in the morning through a hangover, during ebullient moods. I was pleased that several people happened to ask what was my latest read at a point when the timing pointed to this book. How can the premise -- a free black man in 19th-century Louisiana trying to solve a murder, even pretending to be a white man's slave in order to move about without suspicion -- not instantly appeal? And while it fulfills its promise of danger and secrets and desperation, there's also such a compelling sense of milieu, with history lush and made present.
Somehow, although morality is murky in the way only humankind can make it, January continues to be the best sort of hero: ethical, observant, and cognizant of the currents of social power, not only for blacks but for women as well. And the crime is always grounded in a motivation you can't help but ache for and understand.
Now I'm jittery for the next book.
Plane books are for me usually slick-paced action affairs or goofily humorous volumes of diffident weight. But Benjamin January is readable under any circumstances: at high altitudes, late at night after a tiring day, way too early in the morning through a hangover, during ebullient moods. I was pleased that several people happened to ask what was my latest read at a point when the timing pointed to this book. How can the premise -- a free black man in 19th-century Louisiana trying to solve a murder, even pretending to be a white man's slave in order to move about without suspicion -- not instantly appeal? And while it fulfills its promise of danger and secrets and desperation, there's also such a compelling sense of milieu, with history lush and made present.
Somehow, although morality is murky in the way only humankind can make it, January continues to be the best sort of hero: ethical, observant, and cognizant of the currents of social power, not only for blacks but for women as well. And the crime is always grounded in a motivation you can't help but ache for and understand.
Now I'm jittery for the next book.
Read
March 14, 2018As always Hambly delivers a good story that kept me turning pages and investing in the protagonist.
June 18, 2016
Excellent, thrilling and fast paced
June 30, 2018
The bank crash of the 1830’s has impoverished everyone. Plantation owners are feeling the pinch by not having enough slaves to work their properties. Benjamin and Hannibal have lost many of their entertainment gigs; so few are being held due to the slump. Benjamin and his wife Rose have also lost private students both due to the heat of summer and to cash strapped families.
Consequently, Benjamin and Hannibal have joined a travelling show that will pay them each $10/week.
While performing in Nashville, Ben receives a message that he is needed in Vicksburg at once. The message is in code from one of his contacts in the Underground Railroad. Ben cannot travel alone outside New Orleans – he could be captured and sold as a slave for a huge price. He and Hannibal make an excuse and leave the show.
One of Ben’s colleagues in the Railroad has been shot; another is soon arrested for the murder of a well-hidden member of the antislavery group. A black man cannot question a white or testify in court to what he has discovered. He cannot even travel around the area without his ‘master’ to protect him.
The Drinking Gourd provides an enhanced view of life in the antebellum South where black men and women are not truly free. This is a good, complex mystery with a detailed view of the times and place. Recommended.
Readalikes:
Colin Whitehead – The Underground Railroad; Eliot Pattison – Bone Rattler and others in the series; David Fulmer’s Valentin St. Cyr mysteries; Joan Druett’s Wiki Coffin mysteries; Lyndsay Faye – Seven for a Secret; Eleanor Taylor Bland – Fatal Remains; B.B. Oak – Thoreau at Devil’s Perch.
Pace: Fast
Characters: Well drawn
Story: Intricately plotted
Writing style: Compelling; richly detailed; descriptive
Tone: Strong sense of time and place; suspenseful
Frame: Vicksburg MS; 1839
Red flags: Evils of slavery
Social issues: Slavery; status of women “same as us, but with better clothes”
Consequently, Benjamin and Hannibal have joined a travelling show that will pay them each $10/week.
While performing in Nashville, Ben receives a message that he is needed in Vicksburg at once. The message is in code from one of his contacts in the Underground Railroad. Ben cannot travel alone outside New Orleans – he could be captured and sold as a slave for a huge price. He and Hannibal make an excuse and leave the show.
One of Ben’s colleagues in the Railroad has been shot; another is soon arrested for the murder of a well-hidden member of the antislavery group. A black man cannot question a white or testify in court to what he has discovered. He cannot even travel around the area without his ‘master’ to protect him.
The Drinking Gourd provides an enhanced view of life in the antebellum South where black men and women are not truly free. This is a good, complex mystery with a detailed view of the times and place. Recommended.
Readalikes:
Colin Whitehead – The Underground Railroad; Eliot Pattison – Bone Rattler and others in the series; David Fulmer’s Valentin St. Cyr mysteries; Joan Druett’s Wiki Coffin mysteries; Lyndsay Faye – Seven for a Secret; Eleanor Taylor Bland – Fatal Remains; B.B. Oak – Thoreau at Devil’s Perch.
Pace: Fast
Characters: Well drawn
Story: Intricately plotted
Writing style: Compelling; richly detailed; descriptive
Tone: Strong sense of time and place; suspenseful
Frame: Vicksburg MS; 1839
Red flags: Evils of slavery
Social issues: Slavery; status of women “same as us, but with better clothes”
October 5, 2021
This one was another "fish out of water" story in the series, with the main character having to be well outside his familiar setting, but instead in a sort of darker parallel version. Instead of New Orleans, this took place in and around Vicksburg, when it wasn't a very big place. Benjamin January's involvement with the Underground Railway has led to him being asked for help in a medical emergency, and oddly, that was the only part of the story that was hard to believe. From the description and the time frame, there were already days lost in which the man being missing should have been noticed, so that whole part of the plot didn't feel right. Still, the rest of the story, with missing people, an apparent murder [eventually] and other mystery elements were handled well. The relationship between January and his friend Hannibal was developed a little bit, but Hannibal's background as an addict had impact on the plot, as various forms of laudanum were involved.
I figured out who the first murderer was, but some of the other mystery elements caught me off guard. The solution had eluded me in one case, but once explained, was quite believable.
The inclusion of minstrel and circus entertainment in the story was interesting, because both would have been moderately "new" entertainment forms at that period, increasing their appeal to folks in rural areas. The religious movements in New York having their followers that far afield seemed odd, but on the other hand, schisms like the one described were historical, and the beliefs of Drummond and his followers were part of that history.
Overall, both entertaining and educational.
I figured out who the first murderer was, but some of the other mystery elements caught me off guard. The solution had eluded me in one case, but once explained, was quite believable.
The inclusion of minstrel and circus entertainment in the story was interesting, because both would have been moderately "new" entertainment forms at that period, increasing their appeal to folks in rural areas. The religious movements in New York having their followers that far afield seemed odd, but on the other hand, schisms like the one described were historical, and the beliefs of Drummond and his followers were part of that history.
Overall, both entertaining and educational.
May 10, 2019
I can't believe that Barbara Hambly has been able to take New Orleans and the tale of an educated creole freedman during America's slave-owning period (about the 1830s...) and make it so interesting and the mysteries quite believable.
In this outing, Hambly's physician-trained freedman, Benjamin January has become a part of the Underground Railroad and performing with something that sounds very much like a circus with white British performing in blackface. When he gets a message to come right away, he and his friend and white man Hannibal Sefton, leave the show and travel to Vicksburg to help a wounded Underground Railroad "conductor."
While there, the two men find themselves involved in much more than treating wounds. Death is, of course, afoot and they find themselves walking a thin line — for Benjamin to avoid being made a slave and for both, possible death. The 'stories' of the main characters get cloudy and its soon evident that there is much more happening that meets the eye as they try to figure out what is truth and how to bring it to the open.
I've always found the Benjamin January series a good read and this one, the 14th in the series, continues to entertain and engross the intellect. A very good read.
In this outing, Hambly's physician-trained freedman, Benjamin January has become a part of the Underground Railroad and performing with something that sounds very much like a circus with white British performing in blackface. When he gets a message to come right away, he and his friend and white man Hannibal Sefton, leave the show and travel to Vicksburg to help a wounded Underground Railroad "conductor."
While there, the two men find themselves involved in much more than treating wounds. Death is, of course, afoot and they find themselves walking a thin line — for Benjamin to avoid being made a slave and for both, possible death. The 'stories' of the main characters get cloudy and its soon evident that there is much more happening that meets the eye as they try to figure out what is truth and how to bring it to the open.
I've always found the Benjamin January series a good read and this one, the 14th in the series, continues to entertain and engross the intellect. A very good read.
May 16, 2024
Part of a mystery series with Benjamin January. It is a mystery - there is a murder and the protagonist (Dr. January, a free man of color in New Orleans) has to and does solve it.
But this is more than that. It's really a dark book about a tragic time and the Underground Railroad.
Not every slave uses it successfully. Some never even get to try. The slave hunters go all the way up into New England, looking for and capturing runaway slaves. They also grab free men of color and turn them into slaves.
In the end, January and his white friend, fellow musician and conspirator, Hannibal Sefton travel up the river to Vicksburg to attempt to rescue slaves who are trying to use the Underground Railroad. Not all of them escape.
In the end January and Sefton have to pass themselves off as a white master with his black slave to get back to New Orleans safely. Some of the slaves they try to help do get to the Underground Railroad - though whether or not they make it to freedom is an unanswered question.
But this is more than that. It's really a dark book about a tragic time and the Underground Railroad.
Not every slave uses it successfully. Some never even get to try. The slave hunters go all the way up into New England, looking for and capturing runaway slaves. They also grab free men of color and turn them into slaves.
In the end, January and his white friend, fellow musician and conspirator, Hannibal Sefton travel up the river to Vicksburg to attempt to rescue slaves who are trying to use the Underground Railroad. Not all of them escape.
In the end January and Sefton have to pass themselves off as a white master with his black slave to get back to New Orleans safely. Some of the slaves they try to help do get to the Underground Railroad - though whether or not they make it to freedom is an unanswered question.
February 14, 2021
When I began this book, I was engrossed with the characters and story. As I read , I realized that this book was for me a homily on the Black Lives Matter movement and the general atmosphere in this country in 2021. The year 1839 is similar in that there had been an economic crash. Slavery exists in the South. Slaves are bought and sold. Free Blacks can be kidnapped and sold into slavery. The Underground Railroad is aiding runaway slaves in getting to the North. I decided that the real question has to do with the evil people do and can any good acts negate the bad. I don't have any answers. I want to believe that hope and goodness can heal. So, before anyone condemns me, please read this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2021
I've always felt the first five or so books in the series (before Hambly took a break from them) were the best because they were as much historical novel as mystery. However, the suspense really built in this one in unexpected ways. (I know there are more books in the series, but that didn't stop me from being seriously afraid for the hero.) It also focuses on the realities slaves and women faced at that time, and how doing something to save yourself could also place other in harm. Those were thought provoking sections.
August 30, 2025
January-in-jep appears to be the major theme of this series, and it got to be rather much here; I started skimming toward the end, because I just wanted to be done with the damn book. Hambly does a beautiful job with landscape and with reminding the reader just how precarious January's life would be. Also, the theme of identity--who you are & who you really are--is explored, with characters not being who they seem and with January being constantly mistaken for another character. The antebellum South gets a little tiresome, though, when you read through the series all at once.
May 14, 2017
This book barely merited 3 stars. It seemed very similar other Benjamin January stories -- Ben gone upriver for some reason with Hannibal, solving a mystery, afraid of being captured and sold as a slave. I had difficulty keeping all the male characters straight, especially at the beginning of the book. I think this series is getting tired.
September 7, 2017
Benjamin is on the road - or rather the river - in the house band of a travelling circus. Outside of New Orleans things are very different for a black man who can't go anywhere unaccompanied by a white person for fear of being kidnapped and sold. The mystery is secondary to the really interesting and suspenseful Underground Railway plot. Nobody is quite what he or she seems.
January 12, 2018
Another excellent installment in the series, even though every time I read one of the Benjamin January books I feel like punching a Confederate Statue defender. Drinking Gourd seemed to get off to a slow start but it really picked up but about halfway through. Probably my favorite historical mystery series.
March 26, 2020
I just love these books... being from the south and doing my own family genealogy I occasionally find dates and names and places that have helped me... she is very detailed in her research and it shows with the descriptions of the different social classes and how they interacted and related to each other.. some times good, sometimes bad.
on tothe next 3
on tothe next 3
February 13, 2021
Excellent Read
This is one of the page-turners of the series. Don’t miss it. Can be read as a stand alone, but you will enjoy it more if you have read the previous novels. Hambly has a deep understanding of humans and their motivations, and her training as a historian shows in the accuracy and detail with which she portrays the time. Have fun!
This is one of the page-turners of the series. Don’t miss it. Can be read as a stand alone, but you will enjoy it more if you have read the previous novels. Hambly has a deep understanding of humans and their motivations, and her training as a historian shows in the accuracy and detail with which she portrays the time. Have fun!
August 8, 2022
One of my favourites in the series. Ben is called to help an Underground Railway friend, but finds himself entangled in the morass of divided loyalties involving a local preacher.
Some people may think the stories about the preacher and the situation in upstate NY are incredible: Google Oneida Community, or Cane Ridge Revival.
Some people may think the stories about the preacher and the situation in upstate NY are incredible: Google Oneida Community, or Cane Ridge Revival.
January 2, 2025
Set in antebellum New Orleans, a free man of color finds himself himself deep in cotton-plantation country to help a wounded conductor of the Underground Railroad. I love the Benjamin January mystery series! Barbara Hambly is a masterful storyteller. Her twisty plots, memorable characters, and vivid descriptions bring history to life.
September 15, 2025
Set in 1839, when Benjamin January receives an urgent message, he makes a dangerous journey to Vicksburg.
Jubal Cain, coordinator of the Mississippi branch of the Underground Railroad is accused of murder, January has to find the actual killer without revealing Jubal’s importance.
Hambly’s mystery also addresses how women were sexually exploited and abused.
Jubal Cain, coordinator of the Mississippi branch of the Underground Railroad is accused of murder, January has to find the actual killer without revealing Jubal’s importance.
Hambly’s mystery also addresses how women were sexually exploited and abused.
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