Graveyard Dust: A Novel of Suspense

By Barbara Hambly

Bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color and Fever Season established Benjamin January as one of mystery's most exciting heroes. Now he returns in a powerful new novel, a sensual mosaic of old New Orleans, where cultures clash and murder can hover around every darkened corner....

It is St. John's Eve in the summer of 1834 when Benjamin January—Creole physician and music teacher—is shattered by the news that his sister has been arrested for murder. The Guards have only a shadow of a case against her. But Olympe—mystical and rebellious—is a woman of color, whose chance for justice is slim.

As Benjamin probes the allegation, he is targeted by a new threat: graveyard dust sprinkled at his door, whispering of a voodoo death curse. Now, to save Olympe's life—and his own—Benjamin knows he must glean information wherever he can find it. For in the heavy darkness of New Orleans, the truth is what you make it, and justice can disappear with the night's warm breeze as easy as graveyard dust....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307785299

Barbara Hambly

Barbara Hambly was born in San Diego. Her interest in fantasy began with reading The Wizard of Oz at an early age and has continued ever since. She attended the University of California, Riverside, specialising in medieval history and then spent a year at the University at Bordeaux in Southern France as a teaching and research assistant. She now lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews for Graveyard Dust

[carol_w-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the third Benjamin January historical mystery. This one focuses on voodoo and related African-derived beliefs and practices. The conflict revolves around the need to clear January's sister Olympe, a voodoo practitioner, of a charge of murder in the death of a young white man.

[ladynicolai · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the third book in the Benjamin January series and I am even more impressed than ever how Hambly is able to put you in the mind of a free man of color in 1830s Louisiana, which has just become a state that has been "invaded" by the Americans, according to the old Creole families who are quite set in their ways and see the Americans as crude and uncivilized. In this book, she explores the world of Voodoo.January's sister, Olympe, a Voodoo healer, has just been arrested for selling poison to a free woman of color, Celie, in order for her to kill her husband, Isaak Jumon, whose body has not been found, yet. Jumon's brother Antoine, while drunk, and possibly drugged is captured and led to a house where he finds his brother dying with his wife's words on his lips. Now, Isaak is set to inherit land and money from his white father, which has caused his mother to claim him as her slave that has run away, in order to get his inheritance. His white uncle, whom Isaak is close to is doing his best to help January, but he also has a stake in this inheritance. January seeks help from various places, including the Creoles, the Voodoo Priestess Marie Laveau, and runaway slaves who have knowledge of where Isaak was during his last days. January, may be a Catholic now, but he was living on the plantation before being freed, he participated in some of the celebration dances with the compelling drums and music that speaks to a part of his soul. Someone curses his room with graveyard dust, which is a death curse, and while he would like to think he does not believe in these things, deep down he does. Marie is called in to help cleanse the room and recommends that he wear protection, but he refuses, as his Catholic sensibilities will not allow him to do so. While Olympe languishes in a prison that has an outbreak of yellow fever that is being covered up, the clock is ticking and if these two women go to trial, they will surely be found guilty just for the color of their skins and the fact that Olympe practices Voodoo. A body is found and Isaak's mother claims that it is him, but it is not. So where is he and what has happened to him? January discovers that he did spend some time in a hidden spot of New Orleans where runaway slaves go, but has no idea of where he went from there. There is also another player in this game: an evil Voodoo practitioner who is up to no good. January does not have a lot of time to find the clues that will lead to who killed Isaak and save his sister and Ceclie and he lacks the usual help he gets from Lieutenant Shaw, who is away on some other matter that January knows nothing about. This book gives you an inside look into the world of Voodoo, both the good and the bad sides of it. And the mystery of Isaacs's possible death and mysteriously missing body only add to strangeness going on in a town where strangeness is the norm.January must avoid a group of men who are trying to kill him in order to keep him from finding out the truth, which is way bigger than the death of one man. Will January be able to save the two women's practically guaranteed death sentence or will the Voodoo death curse come and claim him before he can?

[calmclam_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The world and characters a vividly drawn and well-researched; the mystery is engaging. But I had a lot of trouble keeping all the characters straight and I'm still not sure I completely understand the mystery itself--I've never been more grateful for the "detective sums it all up" final chapter.

[cmbohn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Benjamin Janvier's sister Olympe has been arrested for murder. She's been accused of using voodoo to kill the husband of a young woman who stands to inherit a nice estate, if she's not hung first. Benjamin knows that no one else will bother to help a voodoo woman, so if he doesn't try to save his sister from hanging, her case is hopeless. But while he's investigating the darker corners of pre-Civil War New Orleans, someone has marked him for his own voodoo curse. And if that doesn't work, a knife in the back will do the trick just as well.I really like this one. Creepy stuff going on here! Benjamin is a great character. Can't wait for the next one.