Crimson Angel: A Benjamin January historical mystery set in New Orleans and Haiti

By Barbara Hambly

Benjamin January is forced to travel to Haiti to seek his family’s lost treasure, in order to save everything he holds dear

When Jefferson Vitrack – the white half-brother of Benjamin January’s wife - turns up on January’s doorstep in the summer of 1838 claiming he has discovered a clue to the whereabouts of the family’s lost treasure, January has no hesitation about refusing to help look for it. For the treasure lies in Haiti, the island that was once France’s most profitable colony – until the blood-chilling repression practiced there by the whites upon their slaves triggered a savage rebellion. The world’s only Black Republic still looks with murderous mistrust upon any strangers who might set foot there, and January is in no hurry to go.

But when Vitrack is murdered, and attempts are made on January’s wife and himself, he understands that he has no choice. He must seek the treasure himself, to draw the unknown killers into the open, a bloody trail that leads first to Cuba, then to Haiti, and finally to the secret that lies buried with the accursed gold.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers
• Release date: Dec 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781780105796

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 Crimson Angel

[romonko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series. The atmosphere that she establishes in each of the books in the series is always spot on. And this, the thirteenth book in the series, is no exception. The setting is pre-civil war era right in the heart of New Orleans. In this book Benjamin and his friend Hannibal and wife Rose journey to Cuba and then to Haiti in search of Rose's family's treasure. January doesn't want anything to do with the treasure or to go to two very dangerous places for freed slaves, but when Rose's white brother gets killed in New Orleans while he's trying to get information, and then when attempts are made on Ben's life and on his wife's, they're drawn into it. There is a tremendous amount of heart-stopping action throughout the book. The characters in this series are wonderfully drawn, and the books are always tightly plotted. This is a great historical mystery series with absolutely tons of atmosphere.

[mikerhode · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The plot was pretty unbelievable, and very convoluted. It just never caught and held my interest.