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Sold Down the River

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Sold Down the River

By: Barbara Hambly
Narrated by: Ron Butler
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About this listen

Penetrating the murkiest corners of glittering New Orleans society, Benjamin January brought murderers to justice in A Free Man of Color, Fever Season, and Graveyard Dust. Now, in Barbara Hambly’s haunting new novel, he risks his life in a violent plantation world darker than anything in the city....

When slave owner Simon Fourchet asks Benjamin January to investigate sabotage, arson, and murder on his plantation, January is reluctant to do any favors for the savage man who owned him until he was seven. But he knows too well that plantation justice means that if the true culprit is not found, every slave on Mon Triomphe will suffer.

Abandoning his Parisian French for the African patois of a field hand, cutting cane until his bones ache and his musician’s hands bleed, Benjamin must use all his intelligence and cunning to find the killer - or find himself sold down the river.

©2001 Barbara Hambly (P)2021 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Crime Historical Murder Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Africa

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This whole series has me hooked but this one particularly was a fascinating listen as we got to hear more about Benjamin’s past, his demons and some of what drives him to be the man he is.. Excellent story too, showing the horrors of slavery and what it does to both sides of the relationship and beautifully brought to life by Ron Butler, (though his Irish and Welsh accents are awful!)

Moving and Vivid

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This whole series is extremely good, but for me - this book stands out. Benjamin is more or less forced to take on the job of trying to discover who is trying to kill his childhood nemesis, Simon Fouchet, with the knowledge that if the murderer succeeds, then probably all the slaves on the plantation will be put to death. This involves going undercover as a slave and working alongside the field hands cutting the sugar can.

The story is a searing indictment of what slavery meant - and what it did to those who endured it. And how it twisted those who were able to carry out their cruelest acts without any restraint. I loved that we got to know a lot more about Benjamin's past and the depth of research Hambly went into to ensure this vivid, savage world leapt to life. The passage about his father had me weeping. A wonderful book, full of drama that gives us the best and worst of what humans do to each other.
10/10

Stunning addition to an excellent series...

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