Wet Grave

Rating:
Summary: Up to the usual standard...
Review: All too often writers seem to lose interest in a series after the first few books. The characters become settled and the plots are rehashes of what's gone before. Hambly has managed to avoid this trap; the characters are still growing and changing, and I care just as much for them after reading this book as I did after the first one. My sole objection, and I admit it's a petty one, is that my favorite supporting character is out of town - but the increased attention to Lt. Shaw gave me a whole new respect for the character.

Rating:
Summary: GETS BETTER AND BETTER
Review: Barbara Hambly's unique series, set in post-Civil War south continues to emerge as one of the best series out there. Weaving complex plots and exceptionally well-developed characters, she continues to lure us into evocative mysteries and believable scenes and characters.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: GETS BETTER AND BETTER
Review: Barbara Hambly's unique series, set in post-Civil War south continues to emerge as one of the best series out there. Weaving complex plots and exceptionally well-developed characters, she continues to lure us into evocative mysteries and believable scenes and characters.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: Overloading the Praise Wagon
Review: Can there ever be too much praise for a writer? Well, if there is such a thing, Barbara Hambly is going to be in trouble. WET GRAVE is a historical mystery/adventure novel that takes places in New Orleans, the barrier islands of Barataria Bay and the riverfront plantations of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

Living amongst the gens de couleur libre (free people of color) in the early 1800's, former slave Benjamin January is suffering through the summer doldrums of New Orleans, while the Creole elite have fled to cooler spots on the planet and the uncivilized Americans drink and brawl their way through the dog days of summer. Amidst the heat, humidity and carnivorous mosquitoes, the former mistress of a long dead pirate captain is murdered at the same time as a rich white planter. The authorities have no problem investigating the murder of the white man, but have callously ignored the murder of a poor, displaced black prostitute. Ben, as usual, takes it upon himself to ferret out Hessy's killer and finds himself caught between a slave rebellion and a hurricane - literally!

Surrounded by women, Ben is also caught up in the mini-dramas of his mother, his sister, and his companion, Rose, who all look to him for support during difficult times. Fortunately for Ben, Rose is more independent than his female relatives and rides out the adventure at his side. But even his sister, Dominique, surprises him, when she demonstrates a depth of character and surprising fortitude.

Barbara Hambly delivers everything you would ever want to experience in a novel - mystery, suspense, adventure, and romance - all in a flawlessly researched package. WET GRAVE is the sixth installment of the Benjamin January mystery series. Although it is the first of Hambly's works that I have read, I was not deterred by starting in the middle of the series. In fact, it just whets my appetite to go back and start the series from the beginning. WET GRAVE is excellent fiction supported by excellent historical research. (RAW Rating: 4.5)

Reviewed by Kim Anderson Ray
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers



Rating:
Summary: more Shaw please!
Review: For those who are not familiar with the series, it is set in New Orleans in the 1830s and the mysteries revolve around a free man of color (the title of the first in the series), Benjamin January. Ben is a surgeon and a musician and makes his living in New Orleans as a piano teacher and player.
In this story, a woman (former placee) is murdered and the local police don't have time to investigate as a plantation owner has been killed. Angered by the lack of justice, Ben decides to investigate on his own.
The story is excellent. I just would like to see more of my favorite characters, Shaw, Hannibal and Olympe. I wasn't a big fan of Rose (Ben's girlfriend) but she seemed to get a little better in this episode. Also the addition of Henri's wife Chloe seems like it will be a good one.
What I particularly liked was that I didn't have to understand French or be familiar with opera or be a history buff to get it! I also didn't did to create a character reference to keep everyone straight.
On the downside, the descriptions of New Orleans and the narrative is just not as well done as in the first novel in this series.
But I love the series and can't wait for the next one.
I recommend!

Rating:
Summary: Beware Hurrican Season
Review: Hesione LeGros's murder as a poor, drunken prostitute is far removed from her younger days as the beautiful, fiery mistress of a pirate captain. The city guard is busy with the death of a white plantation owner, so it is left to Benjamin January to investigate during the grueling summer heat in New Orleans. But January's inquiries quickly take a backseat when disaster strikes closer to home. Soon, Benjamin and his sweetheart Rose are caught up in a tangle of conspiracies - gun running, slave revolt and pirate treasure. Forced to flee New Orleans, they work to untangle the many mysteries in the surrounding plantations and swamps.

This is the sixth book in Hambly's series about 1830s New Orleans and Benjamin January, well-educated freeman and seeker of justice. Hambly provides enough of a history recap for readers new to the series. The rich descriptions put you directly on the streets of the tarnished jewel that is New Orleans. Hambly is as effective as ever in her depictions of the many colliding cultures, the contrast of the lives of the haves and the have-nots, and the heartbreaking injustices and indignities suffered because of race.

One of the best things about this series is that the characters and relationships continue to grow and change. Benjamin and his friends and family are all complex characters. The villains however, seem to be almost over-the-top evil. The pacing steams along steadily until the climax, which is riotous barrage of action. Hambly does an excellent job of wrapping all of her plot threads together. I have one minor quibble - so many things were wrapped up, I'd be afraid for the series if I didn't know that the next book was already out.

Rating:
Summary: no decline in quality
Review: I don't quite understand why mystery seems to be the only genre where prolific authors can keep a series from degrading after 7 or 12 or 20 books -- not always, of course, but at least it seems to be possible. Hambly is one of those, and five books in, Ben January has lost none of his thoughtful carefulness. As a previous reviewer has remarked, Hambly is not known for making her characters' lives easy, but Ben's is just far enough from desperation to keep him from lapsing into sodden unthinking despair, while keeping him always tuned to the dangers in a rapidly changing city. The end seems a wee bit unlikeyl (I'm not there yet; I peeped) but I think it may be the only way Hambly could take her characters where she wants them to go next. I'm eager to see where that is. She's left the series wide open for sequels, tales of the next generation, or even prequels of Ben's life in Paris, in the War or 1812, or earlier.

I think I like mysteries more for the backstory and characterization than for the puzzle, but this one should appeal to mystery fans of either sort, as well as history buffs and those who can see a good novel even cloaked in a genre package.

Rating:
Summary: Swimmin' through the bayous
Review: I have been a big fan of the Benjamin January series, written by Barbara Hambly, ever since the beginning. I've been anxiously awaiting Wet Grave since I had heard Hambly was working on it. At long last, I finally managed to get my hands on it. It was definitely worth the wait. The book had both wonderful atmosphere and a very interesting plot. Definitely one of Hambly's best.

Wet Grave continues Hambly's string of wonderfully atmospheric books. That is actually the main character in these January novels: the atmosphere. Hambly uses vivid descriptions to completely set the scene. You feel like you're in a really hot New Orleans in the middle of a sweltering summer. You can almost feel the heat coming off of the page. I love how she sets the scene even as actions are happening. Ben and Rose may be walking down the street, discussing things and eating Italian ices, but Hambly will spend a paragraph or two describing the people and conditions around them. You don't so much read this book as experience it. If this sort of thing bothers you, then you should probably skip this one.

The pace is leisurely. When a book is badly written, that can be a detriment, as nothing seems to happen. However, when it's as masterfully done as it is here, you don't seem to notice. This isn't to say that there isn't a sense of drive to the narrative, because there is. It's just that the pace allows the reader to absorb everything. The only place that the pace drags is during the climax, when Hambly's penchant for description sometimes takes away from the action, making it drag to a halt periodically. She should have toned it down a bit in the end, but I will gladly take this over a book that has a slam-bang climax but isn't interesting the rest of the time.

The characters are another strength of this novel. Some of the characters who have populated previous novels aren't in this one very much, like Olympe, or Ben's mother. In fact, fans of Hannibal, Ben's longtime musician friend, will be disappointed to find out that he's not in this one at all. However, this provides Hambly the opportunity to really explore Ben's relationship with Rose, as well as the character of Abishag Shaw, the head of the city's police. Rose is a school teacher friend of Ben's who he loves. She has been extremely tentative with Ben because she has an intense fear of men, having been raped a few years ago. Ben has been very patient with her, though, throughout the series. In Wet Grave, things finally begin to change. Rose is a wonderful character, and really brings the book to life. She has a wonderful sense of humour, as well as a dedication that makes her very endearing. The relationship between these two characters is simply wonderful to see, and you find yourself rooting for them.

Abishag Shaw, however, has to be the best character Hambly has created. He's a Kentuckian who has moved down to New Orleans. He's one of the few white people who actually will listen to somebody of colour. He's a man who Ben considers a friend and a man of honour. He's genuinely sorry that he can't help Ben with investigating Hesione's death, as he knows he has to instead investigate the murder of a plantation owner. If he doesn't, he wouldn't have a position any more. He's visibly torn about this, however. When circumstances conspire to bring them together, however, Shaw trusts Ben to watch his back like no other white man would. I think he sees a bit of a kindred spirit, as the French Creoles in New Orleans treat him almost as badly as they treat people of colour. Hambly writes Shaw's character with a very deft touch that makes him very interesting to read about. He really comes into his own in this book, as much of the action at the end concerns him and Ben, showcasing their relationship.

Finally, one of the most interesting things about this series of books is the way it portrays race relations in this time period. Ben is a free man, but he always has to carry his papers with him that declare this. If he's out in the bayous and a plantation owner kidnaps him to work in his fields, there's nothing he could really do about it. The relationships between Creoles and Americans, freed coloureds and slaves and white people, and the various other aspects of New Orleans society are vividly portrayed by Hambly, almost like a history lesson. Ben's sister Dominique is a "kept" woman, a mistress of a plantation owner, as so many other free coloured women (such as Ben's mother) did in order to get by. It's a very fascinating study of a culture. It's very interesting to see who looks down on whom, who is "too black" to fit into a certain social class, that sort of thing.

This book is an intriguing mystery, but it's so much more than that. The characters are fascinating, the atmosphere is wonderful and it's a joy to read. You will lose yourself in this book. It took me just as long to read this book (286 pages) as it did to read Harry Turtledove's last book (500 pages). To me, that shows the depth and richness that Hambly provides. I heartily recommend this book, but to experience the best that this series has to offer, you should almost start at the beginning. There's certainly no need to, as it's perfectly understandable on its own. However, the series is so rich that it deserves to be read in order.

Rating:
Summary: Swimmin' through the bayous
Review: I have been a big fan of the Benjamin January series, written by Barbara Hambly, ever since the beginning. I've been anxiously awaiting Wet Grave since I had heard Hambly was working on it. At long last, I finally managed to get my hands on it. It was definitely worth the wait. The book had both wonderful atmosphere and a very interesting plot. Definitely one of Hambly's best.

Wet Grave continues Hambly's string of wonderfully atmospheric books. That is actually the main character in these January novels: the atmosphere. Hambly uses vivid descriptions to completely set the scene. You feel like you're in a really hot New Orleans in the middle of a sweltering summer. You can almost feel the heat coming off of the page. I love how she sets the scene even as actions are happening. Ben and Rose may be walking down the street, discussing things and eating Italian ices, but Hambly will spend a paragraph or two describing the people and conditions around them. You don't so much read this book as experience it. If this sort of thing bothers you, then you should probably skip this one.

The pace is leisurely. When a book is badly written, that can be a detriment, as nothing seems to happen. However, when it's as masterfully done as it is here, you don't seem to notice. This isn't to say that there isn't a sense of drive to the narrative, because there is. It's just that the pace allows the reader to absorb everything. The only place that the pace drags is during the climax, when Hambly's penchant for description sometimes takes away from the action, making it drag to a halt periodically. She should have toned it down a bit in the end, but I will gladly take this over a book that has a slam-bang climax but isn't interesting the rest of the time.

The characters are another strength of this novel. Some of the characters who have populated previous novels aren't in this one very much, like Olympe, or Ben's mother. In fact, fans of Hannibal, Ben's longtime musician friend, will be disappointed to find out that he's not in this one at all. However, this provides Hambly the opportunity to really explore Ben's relationship with Rose, as well as the character of Abishag Shaw, the head of the city's police. Rose is a school teacher friend of Ben's who he loves. She has been extremely tentative with Ben because she has an intense fear of men, having been raped a few years ago. Ben has been very patient with her, though, throughout the series. In Wet Grave, things finally begin to change. Rose is a wonderful character, and really brings the book to life. She has a wonderful sense of humour, as well as a dedication that makes her very endearing. The relationship between these two characters is simply wonderful to see, and you find yourself rooting for them.

Abishag Shaw, however, has to be the best character Hambly has created. He's a Kentuckian who has moved down to New Orleans. He's one of the few white people who actually will listen to somebody of colour. He's a man who Ben considers a friend and a man of honour. He's genuinely sorry that he can't help Ben with investigating Hesione's death, as he knows he has to instead investigate the murder of a plantation owner. If he doesn't, he wouldn't have a position any more. He's visibly torn about this, however. When circumstances conspire to bring them together, however, Shaw trusts Ben to watch his back like no other white man would. I think he sees a bit of a kindred spirit, as the French Creoles in New Orleans treat him almost as badly as they treat people of colour. Hambly writes Shaw's character with a very deft touch that makes him very interesting to read about. He really comes into his own in this book, as much of the action at the end concerns him and Ben, showcasing their relationship.

Finally, one of the most interesting things about this series of books is the way it portrays race relations in this time period. Ben is a free man, but he always has to carry his papers with him that declare this. If he's out in the bayous and a plantation owner kidnaps him to work in his fields, there's nothing he could really do about it. The relationships between Creoles and Americans, freed coloureds and slaves and white people, and the various other aspects of New Orleans society are vividly portrayed by Hambly, almost like a history lesson. Ben's sister Dominique is a "kept" woman, a mistress of a plantation owner, as so many other free coloured women (such as Ben's mother) did in order to get by. It's a very fascinating study of a culture. It's very interesting to see who looks down on whom, who is "too black" to fit into a certain social class, that sort of thing.

This book is an intriguing mystery, but it's so much more than that. The characters are fascinating, the atmosphere is wonderful and it's a joy to read. You will lose yourself in this book. It took me just as long to read this book (286 pages) as it did to read Harry Turtledove's last book (500 pages). To me, that shows the depth and richness that Hambly provides. I heartily recommend this book, but to experience the best that this series has to offer, you should almost start at the beginning. There's certainly no need to, as it's perfectly understandable on its own. However, the series is so rich that it deserves to be read in order.

Rating:
Summary: The best Benjamin January yet...
Review: I have been reading this series faithfully. I believe this one, so full of all the regular characters (save one), once more saturated in the New Orleans culture of the early nineteenth century, is the finest effort Ms. Hambly has come up with. I too enjoyed that Lt. Shaw, in all his crude glory, was featured, with a hint that there's more to this man (a tragic love affair?). Like Anne Perry, Barbara Hambly writes about another era with such skill that one can almost believe that he or she is there--smell the fetid swamps, feel the moist heat... The excitement of the final scenes kept me riveted. I wanted to make this book "last," but I could not! I look forward avidly for the next installment.