Rating: 
Summary: Ben Janvier goes undercover as a slave...
Review: "Sold Down the River" is the fourth book in Barbara Hambly's series about Benjamin Janvier, a free man of color in 19th century New Orleans. Ben was born a slave, but his mother caught the eye of a white man, St. Denis Janvier, who purchased her along with her son and daughter. Educated in languages as well as becoming a surgeon, and classically trained as a pianist, Ben currently makes his living giving piano lessons and playing at various balls in New Orleans.
Things change suddenly when his mother's original owner, a despicable sugar plantation magnate, Simon Fourchet, comes calling and asks Ben to pose as a slave in order to find out who is sabotaging his sugar harvest and trying to kill him.
This is one of Hambly's most intense outing yet, and Ben is put into some considerable peril while trying to unravel the various threads to find out who caused the murders of several slaves as well as damaged some key equipment.
Posing as the slave of his friend, the consumptive violinist Hannibal Sefton, the two travel upriver to Fourchet's plantation, Mon Triomphe. There, Ben must adapt the language of a field hand and muster all of his strength of character to restrain himself as he witnessess the cruelty of overseers and Fourchet himself. Hambly does not use the delicate issue of slavery of window dressing, but addresses it head on, and there are some visceral and graphic scenes depicted here.
Meanwhile, Ben must get in with both the field hands and the house servants as well as gaining knowledge about the white family controlling the plantation. The plot is intricately woven, and there are several surprises awaiting Ben. Luckily, his friend, Abishag Shaw, has given him a way to communicate by tying colorful bandannas to a tree and changing them daily. If he fails to change the color, help will be on the way...he hopes.
There is voodoo, conspiracy, twisted family relationships and affairs within affairs that will keep the reader guessing as well as turning pages.
As usual, Hambly has crafted an detailed novel with vivid descriptions of places and people. I felt like I was there with Janvier. Her research is outstanding and I learned about how sugar cane was harvested at the time. There are many interesting historical nuggets here.
Some bumps...
She referred to the entrance to the sugar mill as a gateway to hell, which when first encountered was awesome, but this description was repeated multiple times, which diminished the impact.
A typical challenge of all books in the series is the sheer number of characters. We have the various slaves and families, as well as the plantation owners, neighbors and various side characters. Throw in the unusual names, complex relationships and it's hard to keep everyone straight.
I also found it interesting that the slaves had so much apparent freedom of movement to go between plantations for various liaisons, etc.
I will continue with the series, and look forward to "Die Upon a Kiss."
Rating: 
Summary: No Punches Pulled
Review: As a mystery writer whose works address social themes, I greatly admire this effort by Barbara Hambly. Her freed slave/sleuth Benjamin January reluctantly agrees to return to Simon Fourchet's plantation to bring an end to the sabotage of the plantation and the reprisals Fourchet and his henchmen are inflicting upon their slaves. SOLD DOWN THE RIVER is an effective book. It is a horrifying book. Ms. Hambly has done her research, and she pulls no punches. In SOLD DOWN THE RIVER, she clearly presents the horrors slaves endured during that era of American history. Along the way, she tells a first-class tale centering on a top-notch mystery.
Rating:
Summary: No Punches Pulled
Review: As a mystery writer whose works address social themes, I greatly admire this effort by Barbara Hambly. Her freed slave/sleuth Benjamin January reluctantly agrees to return to Simon Fourchet's plantation to bring an end to the sabotage of the plantation and the reprisals Fourchet and his henchmen are inflicting upon their slaves. SOLD DOWN THE RIVER is an effective book. It is a horrifying book. Ms. Hambly has done her research, and she pulls no punches. In SOLD DOWN THE RIVER, she clearly presents the horrors slaves endured during that era of American history. Along the way, she tells a first-class tale centering on a top-notch mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: Overly complicated
Review: Being a US History buff, I am always eager to read historical fiction to see how well the writing exemplifies the time period in which it is set. Ms. Hambly does an excellent job of creating a believable setting and detailed characters that are a treat to read. The Mississippi Delta region and its way of life in the early 1800's comes alive when reading this series of books.
Rating:
Summary: Benjamin January series excellent for history buffs
Review: Being a US History buff, I am always eager to read historical fiction to see how well the writing exemplifies the time period in which it is set. Ms. Hambly does an excellent job of creating a believable setting and detailed characters that are a treat to read. The Mississippi Delta region and its way of life in the early 1800's comes alive when reading this series of books.
Rating:
Summary: Overly complicated
Review: Being both a U.S. history buff and a mystery fan, I expected to love this book. I gave up after slogging through 150 pages. New characters (many with similar names) are introduced about every other page, making the story very difficult to keep straight. Benjamin January also brings a multi-layered backstory to the proceedings, adding additional layers of complexity (and does anybody else think a musician-surgeon-classically educated sensitive widower is a bit too good to be true?). Add a setting unfamiliar to most readers (an 1830s Creole sugar cane plantation), and the density of details overwhelms both plot and characterization. Casual readers will find this book tough sledding.
Rating:
Summary: Back into Bondage.
Review: Benjamin January has solved his share of mysteries. It has always been difficult for him to turn away anyone in need. As a Black man in 1830s New Orleans January understands all too well the concept of injustice. However, the man who has recently come to him for help is the last person in the entire world he wants to help. The man who needs January's assistance this time is none other than his heartless former owner, Simon Fourchet. Although it has been decades since he was in bondage, January can neither forget nor forgive the man who used, abused and treated him and his family like animals. Fourchet is growing older and even more bitter. The last thing he wants to do is ask for help from his former property. Yet, January is the only person he can trust to go undercover and find the culprit who is hell bent on destroying him.
Reluctant to help Fourchet, January must reconsider for the sake of all those still in bondage on Fourchet's plantation. Fourchet and others believe that the arson, sabotage and murders are being done by the hands of a slave. January knows that if he doesn't help find the killer every slave will suffer. And plantation justice is the most brutal of all. In order to save innocents, January will have to leave his comfortable life and return to the slave quarters on the plantation Mon Triumphe, and discover the deadly secrets that reside there as well as in the "Big House".
SOLD DOWN THE RIVER by Barbara Hambly is another superb outing for the heroic Benjamin January. Hambly brings to life the sights, smells, and indignities of the Louisiana plantations. She paints a glorious picture of a cast of characters who all have secrets and hidden agendas. Hambly does not write her characters in just black and white. All of the characters are three dimensional. Although the issue of slavery is still a sore spot for this country, Hambly tackles it with intelligence, reality and sensitivity. SOLD DOWN THE RIVER will have the reader rooting for Benjamin January to find the culprit and put his painful past to rest once and for all.
Reviewed by L. Raven James
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: Kudos!
Review: Benjamin January was a slave who had been treated brutally by his former master Simon Fourchet. Fortunately for him he had been sold to another master who sent him to Paris where he was educated as both a surgeon and musician, and given his freedom. Because people had been hesitant to patronize a man of color, he had given up his surgery practice. Now, he lives off his music, playing at balls and teaching. He has returned home to New Orleans, his place of birth, a free man of color. To January's amazement Simon Fourchet has come to him for a favor. It seems the Fourchet's butler was poisoned by whisky meant for the master. Someone is trying to kill Fourchet, and he wants January to pose as a slave and act as a spy to uncover the guilty parties. January hates Fourchet and doesn't want any part of finding out who's trying to kill the man, but Benjamin's relative points out that if he doesn't do it, all the slaves on Fourchet's plantation will suffer and probably be sold down the river. Very reluctantly, January agrees, and thus begins a whirlwind dive into Hell. Sold Down the River is rich in description as well as history. In 1834 New Orleans January encounters everything from back breaking slave labor to voodoo rites. There are so many possible candidates for killing Fourchet, poor Ben is constantly in a quandary. A former slave as the protagonist and educated snoop? Hambly pulls it off with panache.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to read, harder to put down!
Review: Despite it's graphic details of the realities and humiliation of slavery, I found this book to be a very good read. It kept me guessing until the end. Hambly has created a very enduring and honorable hero in Benjamin January.
Rating:
Summary: incredible
Review: I have waited long for another Hambly book. After Dragonbane where the characters were so real and moving, to find a very complex, exciting, capable and intricate character in Benjamin Janvier. He is sorrowful but not bitter, aware, and intelligent, a musician an dphysician ( I wish I could be)and yet fighting the problems and complexities of New Orleans and the south in 1831. We get a real but not overly gruesome feel of slavery. You see the filth and cruelty but it is not basked in like some torture-lover. I have read one other Janvier novel and will go back and get the rest. Thank you for making real understandable and identifiable people.
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