"...(T)hey come here seeking their fortunes, but all they find is a
wet grave."
The speaker is Benjamin January, a freeman of color living in New
Orleans in the 1830s. The "they" referred to are white men, and the
"here" is the Crescent City. Although January is a fictitious
creation, his words, spoken in Barbara Hambly's WET GRAVE, are as
true now as they were in the fictitious but historical world that
January inhabits.
It is not unusual to find such accuracy in Hambly's historical
mystery novels. WET GRAVE, the sixth of her books to chronicle the
life and times of January, contains the same elements that made its
five predecessors instant classics and forever memorable:
sympathetic characters, complex and interesting plots, and perhaps
most significantly, a historical accuracy, borne of months of
research, interwoven within the descriptions of the background upon
which the characters function.
The background, as WET GRAVE opens, concerns two murders. The death
by foul play of Guifford Avacet, a wealthy plantation owner, is
cause for concern; the death of an alcoholic prostitute of color,
the former consort of a pirate, is not felt to be worth the time of
even a preemptory investigation. January, whose contact with the
woman had been remote and minimal, is nonetheless compelled to
investigate the manner and motive of her slaying. As a freeman of
color and a second-class citizen (in contrast to a slave, who
would, indeed, have no standing at all) his options are limited.
When January's investigation by happenstance uncovers a
gun-smuggling operation, it results in the death of someone close
to him. He now seeks not only justice on two fronts, but also
vengeance. January soon finds that his impromptu --- and illegal
--- investigation into the death of Avacet intersects with that of
his sometimes ally, Lieutenant Shaw o