"Masterful mystery set in Civil War era New Orleans."

The 8th book in the Benjamin January mystery series finds Benjamin approached by his bank with an offer he cannot refuse. It seems a great deal of the Bank of Louisiana's money has gone missing, and the bank's branch manager, Oliver Weems is the likely suspect. Benjamin would like to turn this dangerous journey down, but unless he can find a way to recover the money, his own life savings will disappear and the bank may fold. For a freed black man, this could be all that separates him from his fellow slaves. His wife, Rose, teaches young women who would learn of subjects not thought proper for black men and women, but the income will not be enough to keep their house. Benjamin has trained as a surgeon and doctor, skills which were thought well of in Europe. However, society will not allow a black man in the States the title of Dr. and so the reward money can ensure more freedom as well.

When it appears Weems is set to run with the money on the Silver Moon, down the mighty Mississippi, Benjamin goes to his friend Hannibal Sefton. His plan is for Hannibal to pose as his master, so that Benjamin can move about as freely as a slave can in order to solve the mystery. Precaution is definitely the word of the day, when traveling in places where papers of freedom can be stripped away and ignored as fast as slavers can sell a slave. Hannibal, a drunken bard, is an honorable man, and glad to call Benjamin his friend. Setting out on board, with his beautiful Rose undercover down below, Benjamin faces dangers not only from the slavers and criminals aboard. Queen Regine, one of the reigning voodoo priestesses, has recently cursed Benjamin, and evil is but one step a way from him. Murder, deceit, slavery and bad luck abound as Benjamin races to save his money and the necks of himself and his friends as the Silver Moon sets sail in a land torn apart by civil war. It will take all of his skills and then some, to make it out free and alive.

Antebellum New Orleans, comes vividly to life under Barbara Hambly's skillful pen. Ms. Hambly suspends the reader in a descriptively Technicolor world with the sights, sounds, prejudices and dangers of post Civil War New Orleans. The mystery draws one onward as this lost world opens its soul, spilling out all the secrets, desires, fights and freedom lost inside. Masterful and rich, intriguing and compelling, it is a book full of history and mystery. This real tale gives a glimpse of reality and the lives of those torn apart in the old South and is a definite must read.

Reviewed by Anne Barringer
Posted August 11, 2004