Die Upon a Kiss

Rating:
Summary: Good Character Development
Review: Barbara Hambly has written another brilliant Benjamin January mystery in "Die Upon A Kiss" -- Hambly ably mixes political intrigue with the over the top shenanigans of the opera stars, adding a dollop of two of assault, battery and murder. Add to that her very astute and bitingly sharp observations of the class, race and gender practices of New Orleans in the 1830s, and you have a very entertaining, finely detailed and informative novel.

It's Carnival time in New Orleans, and the American Theatre (sponsored by the 'American' community in New Orleans in direct competition to the Creole sponsored opera company) is about to open with it's first opera season under the aegis's of an Italian impresario, Lorenzo Belaggio. And Benjamin January has been able to successfully acquire a job with the orchestra of this new theatre. One night, as he is leaving the theatre after a late rehearsal, Benjamin walks into an attempt on Belaggio's life. Benjamin successfully defends Belaggio from his attackers, and in the chaos that follows, the hysterical opera director accuses first two of his tenors (Belaggio is an Italian who supports the Austrian occupation of the northern cities of Italy, while the two tenors, Cavallo & Ponte, are firm supporters of the New Italy movement); and then the manager of the rival opera company (and Benjamin's friend, John Davis) of the attempted murder. As the hours and days pass, Belaggio's accusations against Davis mount, much to Davis's consternation. Things between the Creole and 'American' communities are tense as it is, without Belaggio's inflammatory claims against Davis. And so Davis asks Benjamin to look into things, and hopefully discover who was really behind the attempt on Belaggio's life, before the next, and perhaps fatal, attempt takes place.

The suspects and motives are many. Definitely Cavallo and Ponte despise Bellagio for his political stance. But would the two men actually kill Bellagio simply for supporting the Austrians? Benjamin senses something deeply personal about this attack. And when it turns out that Belaggio's current mistress, the prima donna of the company, the beautiful Drusilla, is also being courted by one of the sponsors of the theatre, Benjamin wonders if it may be a case of one rival getting rid of another. And then another tantalizing thought comes to mind: the company will be performing "Othello" and Benjamin wonders if someone may be going all out to prevent the play that tells of a black man's love for a white woman from being performed. So many possibilities; where is Benjamin to start? Fortunately, Benjamin has his trusted friend and fellow orchestra player, Hannibal Sefton, as an ally in this quest. But even before Benjamin and Hannibal have even started their investigation, their good friend Madame Scie, the ballet mistress is attacked and severely injured. It looks as if someone is hunting the members of this new company, and for Benjamin, the hunt for this assassin has suddenly become very personal indeed.

"Die Upon A Kiss" is a really brilliant read. The plot is a little convoluted, but well worth the effort of sticking it out. I was simply glued to the pages. Not only was the story outstanding, but the use of language and imagery was absolutely exquisite! Hambly has successfully imbued this novel with that dark atmospheric almost gothic feel -- I could almost taste and smell the dark, cool New Orleans nights that she so ably describes. The characters were all very well defined, and the level of tension/suspense was well sustained. But what I liked most was her droll and biting observations about New Orleans society (both black and white) and the dramatic and grand gestures that the members of the new opera company indulged in. This novel is an absolutely wonderful read, and well worth a five star rating.

Rating:
Summary: Not the mystery you thought when you started
Review: Die Upon a Kiss starts out as a mystery at the opera. It didn't sound very interesting compared to the previous books in the Benjamin January series. It actually took this book awhile to get going.

However, when it does, it really cooks. What sounds like a boring opera story develops into international intrigue, more slavery issues and crimes that happened in the past. You'd think that this would make the book be a little disjointed, but Hambly brings it all together marvelously. There are so many twists and turns in this one, it almost gives you whiplash (but in a good way).

Hambly, as always, is great with the New Orleans atmosphere. She has increased it from what was in the fourth book, though she's still not up to the third book's standards where this is concerned. However, I didn't notice it as much, because the book itself was so intriguing.

Not only that, but there is actual movement in a lot of the relationships between the characters. There are changes in Ben & Rose's relationship, Dominique, even Hannibal a little bit. You get to know a little bit more about the past, both January's and Hannibal's. January's time spent in Paris actually is relevant for once, rather than just background information.

This one took me a bit longer to read because of the slow start. However, it is definitely worth every moment spent on it. The payoff is great, and you will soon find yourself praising Hambly again. I can't wait for Wet Grave to come out.

Rating:
Summary: Not the mystery you thought when you started
Review: Die Upon a Kiss starts out as a mystery at the opera. It didn't sound very interesting compared to the previous books in the Benjamin January series. It actually took this book awhile to get going.

However, when it does, it really cooks. What sounds like a boring opera story develops into international intrigue, more slavery issues and crimes that happened in the past. You'd think that this would make the book be a little disjointed, but Hambly brings it all together marvelously. There are so many twists and turns in this one, it almost gives you whiplash (but in a good way).

Hambly, as always, is great with the New Orleans atmosphere. She has increased it from what was in the fourth book, though she's still not up to the third book's standards where this is concerned. However, I didn't notice it as much, because the book itself was so intriguing.

Not only that, but there is actual movement in a lot of the relationships between the characters. There are changes in Ben & Rose's relationship, Dominique, even Hannibal a little bit. You get to know a little bit more about the past, both January's and Hannibal's. January's time spent in Paris actually is relevant for once, rather than just background information.

This one took me a bit longer to read because of the slow start. However, it is definitely worth every moment spent on it. The payoff is great, and you will soon find yourself praising Hambly again. I can't wait for Wet Grave to come out.

Rating:
Summary: My least favorite of the series
Review: I got stuck about 20 pages into it and from there restarted reading it about four times before I finally finished it. I was inundated with the cast of characters and found it very difficult to keep all the relationships and subplots straight. This, along with the author's writing style of constantly interrupting the sentence flow by inserting other lengthy information right in the middle of it (count the em dashes in the book sometime!) made this book a tedious read. I did enjoy seeing Benjamin's & Rose's relationship further develop, and of course getting a great feel for how life was in 1830s New Orleans.

Rating:
Summary: Dear Barbara: Fewer Characters, Please. Signed: Confused
Review: I have enjoyed every one of the Ben January "mysteries" from the first up through this one.

But i had to make about three starts at this one before i made it through.

There are too many characters, too many of whom really failed to register on me. I barely managed to keep track of the principals, and probably lost a number of plot details because of not grasping character interactions properly. (I generally like Hambly's books better when they feature smaller casts.)

I must also agree that i could have done with more of January's family (though his placee sister is featured in a rather tense little side-plot) and, perhaps, more of Rose -- although i suspect that "more of Rose" is going to be rather prominent in some future volume.

I especially would have enjoyed more of Abishag Shaw, the Colombo-esque "American" police officer with whom Ben has a working relationship based on mutual respect and trust that's about as close to true friendship as a free man of color and a white man would be able to come in the New Orleans of the mid-nineteenth century. ((Ben's friendship with his Irish fellow-musician is a special case...))

And i'd certainly welcome more of Marie Laveau...

That all being said, i still enjoyed the book quite a bit -- even if i lost track of the details of the mystery part of the plot -- because Hambly, as always, spins a great story of hope and despair, love and hate, life and death and tears and laughter.

While this is not the volume i'd choose to hand to someone who hadn't read any of the previous books -- i'd definitely recommend beginning with "A Free Man of COlor", the first -- and while i found it the most difficult of the series so far, i would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who asked me if they ought read it.

((Incidentally, if you have read this book or any of the previous books in this series and enjoyed them, but have not tried her fantasies, i definitely recommend them -- particularly my favourite, the unfortunately out-of-print "Stranger at the Wedding", which straight-facedly combines the best aspects of a Georgette Heyer romantic farce with a mildly gruesome horror plot.))

Rating:
Summary: Opera in New Orleans February 1835
Review: I have to admit that at first I didn't enjoy this book as much as the previous ones in the series, and it is very difficult to keep all the characters straight (actually all through the book), but when the story got going it was wonderful. There were lots of plots and subplots so that it was a bit difficult to follow, but if you pesevere you'll read an intriguing book with a great mystery. We see lots of character development here - Benjamin, Rose, Hannibal and even Ben's younger sister Dominique. And no one can touch Ms Hambly for beautiful descriptions and dialogue! In this book we get a first-hand view of what opera was like in these times - compare it and the personalities or stars to motion pictures today. Audiences loved and hated their favourite opera stars, and everyone in that industry was after their "15 minutes of fame". This is a totally wonderful series, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in historical fiction (not just mysteries).

Rating:
Summary: Hambly Does It Again
Review: I've enjoyed this series from the beginning -- it has a dark, rich texture like a wonderful chocolate cake with occasional nuts, yet an astringent aftertaste as well.

Hambly brings an age that's at once alien and familiar to life; it's our recent past -- only two long human lifetimes ago -- but in some ways as different as the Rome of Nero.

And while the action is fast, and the tension serious -- you really care about these characters -- there's a dry, subtle humor that's quite marvelous. The fight over including "Sweet Betsy from Pike" in an Italian opera is a delight.

Buy this book and read it. Buy the whole series.

Rating:
Summary: My least favorite of the series
Review: There are too many characters, and it's hard to tell them apart. Lots of incidents, but this time they don't add up to much at the end. At least this time it's nice to see January among a crowd that accepts him as a fellow artist, and treats him (at times) as a near equal. Full of interesting period atmosphere.