Staff book review For Becky G.

I have been enjoying reading a mystery book by Barbara Hambly.
The book Titled Dead and Buried takes place in New Orleans during the summer of 1836.
no one expects the accident of a wrong body in a coffin. Not only is it the wrong man it is a white man
in a black man's coffin...this takes place at the funeral of a free black man . The entire free Colored Militia and Burial Society are present when this accident occurs. The only person who recognized the white dead man was Hannibal Sefton, fiddle player and close friend to free black musician and surgeon Benjamin January. From this macabre start, January is drawn into a web of blackmail, murder, lies and family secrets.
January Benjamin becomes the investigator in order to save a man from hanging at the request of his friend Hannibal Sefton. Great reading of a time period when a black man in the white man's world of the old South struggled to survive let alone solve a murder mystery. A most enjoyable read from start to finish.
If you enjoy a good mystery with lots of intrigue and some history try all of Barbara Hambly's books of Bejamin January as the lead character.

Review by Jo Ann Woodward 02-02-2014