The Nubian's curse

If you're counting, this is the twentieth Benjamin January mystery (the first, A Free Man of Color, was published in 1997). Benjamin, an early nineteenth-century free Black man, is a former surgeon, a musician, and a sleuth. He has lost none of his appeal over the course of the series; if anything, he's more interesting now than he was at the outset, because the author keeps revealing new facets of his character. Here Benjamin endeavors to determine whether a man who died 15 years ago was the victim of murder or of something more supernatural. It's fascinating to see Hambly apply the cold-case format to an historical mystery, to see Benjamin, in the absence of any of today's forensic techniques, uncover the long-buried truth. Hambly, who's written a lot of sf and fantasy, including a series about vampires in early twentieth-century London, is a terrific storyteller; she builds a world that feels very real with fully realized characters. In the Benjamin January novels, we feel like we've been transported to a different time and place. Wonderful.

Hambly's outstanding 20th whodunit featuring formerly enslaved doctor Benjamin January (after Death and Hard Cider) combines an eerie murder mystery with a vivid depiction of the antebellum South. In 1840, Benjamin is celebrating Christmas in Louisiana, where he's managed to build a life with a few patients, a loving family, and occasional opportunities to play piano professionally. When Benjamin is reunited with Arithmus Wishart, whom he hasn't seen in nearly 16 years, a mystery from his past comes roaring back. In 1825 France, Benjamin met Deverel Wishart, who claimed that he found Arithmus in a Sudanese desert, and that, though the man spoke "no known human language," he possessed remarkable mathematical gifts. Not long after that, Deverel was found dead during a ghost hunt in a supposedly haunted chateau, and Arithmus, who disappeared soon afterwards, became a suspect. His reappearance leads Benjamin to reinvestigate Deverel's death, and as he digs deeper into Arithmus's past, he discovers surprising details about his own. Hambly isn't content to rest on her laurels--she packs this installment with dueling timelines, fastidious period detail, and a consistently surprising investigation. This long-running series still shows plenty of life. Agent: Frances Collin, Frances Collin Literary. (Jan.)

A series of mysteries spanning two continents and many years comes to a head in Louisiana. Benjamin January may be a Paris-trained doctor and an excellent musician, but in 1840 New Orleans, he's a Black man who has to remember his place. The evening Ben plays at a Christmas ball, he encounters a haunting puzzle from his past. The star of the ball, the Vicomtesse de St.-Forgeux, turns out to be Persephone Jondrette, whom Ben knew in Paris as a dancer. She's now serving as a companion to wealthy Miss Daisy Emmett, whose slave-trader father died and left her guardianship to his business partner, Creon Grice. When Persephone comes to Ben's home the next day to ask for help looking into the well-being of two old friends, he can't refuse, even though it brings back unpleasant memories of a weird, unsolved murder in Paris more than a decade earlier. The friends are African mathematical genius Arithmus Sudirja and Belle Wishart, a British woman; Arithmus was a companion to Belle's scientifically inclined uncle, Deverel Wishart. After her uncle's death, Grice married Belle for her money; he spirited Belle and Arithmus to Louisiana because the French police suspected them of killing Deverel. Now, Persephone reveals, it seems that Arithmus is enslaved on Grice's Natchez plantation. Traveling to Natchez disguised as the valet of a white musician who's helped him before, Ben finds that Grice has thrown Belle out of the house, demanding a divorce and obviously planning on marrying Miss Emmett to increase his fortune. Miss Emmett, however, has set her sights higher, on Prince Serafin Corvinus. When Grice vanishes, Ben, certain that he's dead, finds himself again forced to rescue himself and his friends from a murder charge. A hauntingly atmospheric mystery with a complex and exciting storyline. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.