Benjamin January Mysteries
So I'm reading the Benjamin January mysteries by Barbara Hambly and they are, to my mind, pretty much perfect.
They are a series of murder mysteries set in New Orleans in the 1830s, with the lead character being Benjamin January, a free man of colour (which was, apparently a term used at the time and used with a great deal of pride by New Orleans free Black community). "What's that?" I hear you say. "New Orleans and history? Aren't those two of the things that Sallys like the most?"
"Why yes," say I. "They absolutely are". I will admit that I'm not an expert on this period, but the books feel well researched (OK, so some of the racial politics and feminism sometimes seems fuelled a little bit by modern sensibilities) and are gloriously rich in detail. The characters are amazingly varied (PoC, queer, trans) but never feel remotely shoehorned in in their diversity. And I usually can't guess whodunnit, although I will say that sympathetic characters so far have tended to stay sympathetic and the bad guys have been reasonably unpleasant from the start. I'm hoping this changes as the books progress because I like a bit of a sting in the tail.
If you like murder mysteries, history, New Orleans and strong characters of colour, you should read these. They come highly recommended.
Also, it appears that LJ is still the best place I know for things like book reviews. Tumblr won't let me put in proper paragraph breaks, and G+ and facebook don't really feel like the right place to discuss anything with more complexity than you can fit in a single sentence. So here I am.
They are a series of murder mysteries set in New Orleans in the 1830s, with the lead character being Benjamin January, a free man of colour (which was, apparently a term used at the time and used with a great deal of pride by New Orleans free Black community). "What's that?" I hear you say. "New Orleans and history? Aren't those two of the things that Sallys like the most?"
"Why yes," say I. "They absolutely are". I will admit that I'm not an expert on this period, but the books feel well researched (OK, so some of the racial politics and feminism sometimes seems fuelled a little bit by modern sensibilities) and are gloriously rich in detail. The characters are amazingly varied (PoC, queer, trans) but never feel remotely shoehorned in in their diversity. And I usually can't guess whodunnit, although I will say that sympathetic characters so far have tended to stay sympathetic and the bad guys have been reasonably unpleasant from the start. I'm hoping this changes as the books progress because I like a bit of a sting in the tail.
If you like murder mysteries, history, New Orleans and strong characters of colour, you should read these. They come highly recommended.
Also, it appears that LJ is still the best place I know for things like book reviews. Tumblr won't let me put in proper paragraph breaks, and G+ and facebook don't really feel like the right place to discuss anything with more complexity than you can fit in a single sentence. So here I am.