Good Man Friday

by Barbara Hambly

Overview

Free man of color Benjamin January travels to Washington, DC, to track down a missing mathematician in this “excellent” pre–Civil War mystery (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
 
New Orleans, 1838. Living in antebellum New Orleans as a free man of color, Benjamin January has always taken whatever work he could find. But when he suddenly loses his job playing piano at extravagant parties, he finds himself taking on an entirely new—and exceedingly dangerous—enterprise. Sugar planter Henri Viellard has hired Benjamin to travel with him to Washington, DC. Henri’s friend, an elderly English mathematician named Selwyn Singletary, was last seen in Washington before he went missing. With Benjamin’s help, Henri intends to track him down.
 
Plunged into a murky world of spies, slave snatchers, and dirty politicians, Benjamin uncovers a coded secret that he attempts to decipher with the help of a young Edgar Allan Poe. But a powerful ring of conspirators doesn’t want the secret known. And they’re ready to kill anyone who gets in their way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780103938
Publisher:	Severn House Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/2013
Series:	A Benjamin January Mystery , #12
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	56,852
File size:	876 KB

About the Author

Barbara Hambly (b. 1951) is a New York Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction, as well as historical novels set in the nineteenth century. After receiving a master’s degree in medieval history, she published The Time of the Dark, the first novel in the Darwath saga, in 1982, establishing herself as an author of serious speculative fiction. Since then she has created several series, including the Windrose Chronicles, Sun Wolf and Starhawk series, and Sun-Cross series, in addition to writing for the Star Wars and Star Trek universes. Besides fantasy, Hambly has won acclaim for the James Asher vampire series, which won the Locus Award for best horror novel in 1989, and the Benjamin January mystery series, featuring a brilliant African-American surgeon in antebellum New Orleans. She lives in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

Historical horrors abound in Hambly’s excellent 12th Benjamin January novel (after 2011’s Ran Away). By showing compassion for a dying fighting slave, January—a free black man and surgeon–turned–piano player in antebellum New Orleans—loses his musician job. To support his family, he agrees to help wealthy planter Henri Viellard (whose mistress is January’s sister Minou) locate a missing friend—elderly English mathematician Selwyn Singletary. Along with Veillard, Minou, and Viellard’s chilly wife, Chloe, he travels to a decadent Washington, D.C., inhabited by slave stealers, grave robbers, spies, and venal legislators. Hambly’s brilliantly conceived cast includes a young Edgar Allan Poe, a sinister British spymaster, a New England abolitionist promoting an early form of baseball, and a courageous and loyal slave named Ganymede Tyler, the eponymous “Man Friday.” Hambly brings back to life a world where Congressmen obliviously pass chained men without a glance, forcing her readers to wonder painfully with January, “Jesus, where are you now?” Agent: Frances Collin Literary Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Well-drawn characters populate this fascinating entry in the long-running series"

Booklist

Hambly brings back to life a world where Congressmen obliviously pass chained men without a glance, forcing her readers to wonder painfully with January, “Jesus, where are you now?””
Publishers Weekly Starred Review of Good Man Friday

"Well-drawn characters populate this fascinating entry in the long-running series"
Booklist on Good Man Friday

"Mid

From the Publisher

Times are hard in 1838 New Orleans; with the end of the Bank of the United States, people are cash poor. Benjamin January, a French-trained physician–turned–musician and a free man of color, is having a tough time supporting his family. So he agrees to take on an assignment from Henri Viellard, the white protector of his sister Dominique, to go to Washington and look for a missing friend. January must deal with dangerous people and situations as he conducts his search. Hambly (Ran Away) delivers a skillfully woven blend of fact and fiction to create Benjamin January’s world, and she fills it with well-drawn characters. Kirsten Potter adds much to the listener’s enjoyment with her deft performance that makes you want to keep listening.

Verdict This is a strong series entry that will appeal to fans of both mysteries and historical fiction.—Cynthia Jensen, Gladys Harrington Lib., Plano, TX
(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal

Benjamin January, free man of color, leaves New Orleans for the iniquities of Washington City. Desperate for work, Ben (Ran Away, 2011, etc.) agrees to accompany Henri and Chloë Viellard north to search for their vanished friend, mathematician Selwyn Singletary. Also included on the trip are Henri's mistress (and Ben's sister), Dominique, her daughter Charmian, her maid and many trunks of silk petticoats. Upon landing in Washington, the blacks settle into a rooming house while the Viellards establish themselves at a whites-only hotel. Nobody, however, has seen hide nor hair of Singletary for the months since he arrived from England. Not Oldmixton, the British embassy secretary; not Luke or Rowena Bray. But Bray's valet, Mede, admits that the man entrusted him with a ledger, though he can't decipher what it says: It's just a series of numbers that make no sense. While trying to puzzle out matters, Ben must avoid the Fowlers, notorious slave snatchers, waylay grave robber Wylie Pease and learn a rudimentary form of baseball, which is illegal for blacks to play. Edgar Poe, a Baltimore gentleman come to Washington in search of work, is staying at Ben's boardinghouse. Poe, who thrives on solving codes, joins Ben in pursuit of Singletary. They end up combating a spy ring that plots trouble for Canada and visiting a private mad asylum where doping is the rule of the day. Before all is resolved, Ben will be wounded in a skirmish with the slave snatchers, Dominique will be kidnapped, Mede will have his throat cut, and a woman will try to murder her husband and claim his death a suicide. Mid-19th-century sexism and racism galore, presented with Hambly's usual verve and historical accuracy.

Kirkus Reviews