This book takes place mostly in Cuba and Haiti, the unique nation formed by a slave revolt. There is an insanely complicated family tree in the front -- Rose's family -- which I needed to refer to quite often at the beginning and, occasionally, surprisingly late in the narrative as well. It's very good to meet Rose's white half-brother. Too bad he doesn't make it out of the introductory chapters alive.

Rose and Hannibal are very involved in the action, which as usual is dangerous and suspenseful.

The new publishers still haven't seen fit to provide the maps that are so sorely needed, which the first books in the series all had. Hambly's historical endnotes, which were so welcome early in the series, are also missing and missed. I had to do a web search for "slave vivisection" to confirm that Hambly, once again, did not make this stuff up. I would have liked to know more (for instance and among other topics) about her research on zombis, which are taken as a matter-of-fact phenomenon in Haiti.

In this book, voodoo divination is also taken more or less as fact and Benjamin January, somewhat against his religious principles, allows practitioners to read his future. Accurately. Interesting twist, which makes me wonder whether Hambly is slipping more into her fantasy/horror author mode with this series, and will it continue in that direction.

I will say that my own research into baby feeding in the 19th century leaves me wondering whether Hambly considered the difficulty and danger of separating an infant under a year old from its mother, especially during the summer. Babies were exclusively breastfed for a year, even among whites in the northern states. "Summer complaint" (gastrointestinal disease) was the commonest cause of death for babies being weaned at that time. Artificially feeding/wet nursing baby John is not mentioned. John "misses" his mother emotionally and that is the extent of the consideration. Maternal engorgement and mastitis upon being suddenly separated from her nursling apparently doesn't trouble Rose either.

Not unusually for this series, there's enough plot for two books squeezed into 240 pages. Maybe three or four. The amount of back story is staggering, but the book rewards careful reading. ( )

This is a worthy addition to the Benjamin January series. It did, however, get off to a slow start. Going off to hunt for hidden treasure is so... pedestrian. I couldn't quite drum up sufficient interest in a hoard of money and jewels, so I was quite relieved when it became clear that things weren't quite that simple.

This time, we get plenty of Rose and Hannibal - I missed Hannibal in [b:Good Man Friday|16043241|Good Man Friday (Benjamin January, #12)|Barbara Hambly|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349924391s/16043241.jpg|21820478]. The best books of the series - in common with most series - are when the characters we know and love are given plenty of page time.

This time, the action centres around Haiti, and the slave rebellion. I know nothing about the history of that area, so I can't comment on whether the author has got it right or not. However, whether she did or not, it makes an excellent - and thought-provoking - story. Given the nature of the main character, slavery is obviously going to be a recurring theme in the books. In this one, it is not so much the institution of slavery itself but what absolute power makes people think it's permissible to do.

Without giving away any spoilers, I have no idea whether Hambly based one of her villains on a real person from that period, but I know that such things happened in a more recent time. People can be, and have been, and are, that evil to each other - if given the right opportunities and the right encouragement. ( )

The plot was pretty unbelievable, and very convoluted. It just never caught and held my interest. ( )

I love Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series. The atmosphere that she establishes in each of the books in the series is always spot on. And this, the thirteenth book in the series, is no exception. The setting is pre-civil war era right in the heart of New Orleans. In this book Benjamin and his friend Hannibal and wife Rose journey to Cuba and then to Haiti in search of Rose's family's treasure. January doesn't want anything to do with the treasure or to go to two very dangerous places for freed slaves, but when Rose's white brother gets killed in New Orleans while he's trying to get information, and then when attempts are made on Ben's life and on his wife's, they're drawn into it. There is a tremendous amount of heart-stopping action throughout the book. The characters in this series are wonderfully drawn, and the books are always tightly plotted. This is a great historical mystery series with absolutely tons of atmosphere. ( )