DIE UPON A KISS (Hist. Mys-Benjamin January-New Orleans-1830s) – NRHambly, Barbara – 5th in seriesBantam, 2002, US Paperback – ISBN: 0553581651First Sentence: “…nigger,” muttered a man’s voice, hoarse in the dark of the alley but very clear.Benjamin January is leaving the American Theatre, after a rehearsal of a new production of “Othello,” just in time to intervene in a vicious attack on the opera’s impresario. John Davis, manager of a rival opera company, is being accused of hiring the attack and asks Benjamin to investigate. As tensions mount, the company’s ballet mistress, and good friend of Benjamin’s, is attacked and the investigation becomes personal for January.It is never a good sign which you keep checking to see how close you are to the end of a book. For me, the end didn’t come soon enough and I finally gave up. I don’t mind a book with a lot of characters if they are distinguishable and come to life. These characters never did. I knew what they looked like physically, but had no real sense of them and what made them who they were. Even with Benjamin, while he was the most interesting of the characters, I’m not compelled to read more about him. There was some very clever dialogue. I particularly liked the line about beautiful music not necessarily coming from a beautiful soul. The sense of time and place was strong. I love books set in New Orleans. I’ve not been back post-Katrina, but one of its appeals is the sense of timelessness it has. I enjoyed “walking” down streets I remember with the characters knowing they look about the same as they did in the story. While the author talks about bigotry and racism of the time, it felt more educational than involving. She had a tendency to reiterate information, seemingly not trusting the reader to having picked it up the first time or now remembering it. As for the plot—what was the plot? I kept waiting to feel that sense of “ah, this is where we’re going” and never did. When we finally get to the real plot, it is as though it is another story entirely. Ms. Humbly falls victim to the occasional use of portents, which I despise. It seems to take a long time for anything to happen. Unless one has a love of music, particularly opera, I believe readers could find the plot ponderous, and that’s not really where the story goes anyway. This is my second try at Hambly and, I am confidant, my last.
What is it that makes an author's work so distinctive? Is it their sentence structure, or choice of adjectives? Whatever it is I find Barbara Hambly's writing very appealing whether she is writing fantasy or historical fiction, and I love her atypical heroes and heroines. The Ben January books, of which this is the fifth, are historical detective stories set in New Orleans after the Louisiana purchase, but before the civil war. Ben is black, a freeman of colour, and this gives him a particular perspective and allows the author to make subtle points about racial attitudes then and now. He is also a talented musician and doctor, and this gives him the opportunity to become embroiled in any number of shady goings on in the city - perhaps a slightly implausible number by this book, and I thought that he might have become a little more wary about becoming involved due to the constant risk he runs of being either beaten up, sold into slavery, or both. Nevertheless the books, including this one, are excellently plotted and convincing stories, as I said above, I adore Hambly's prose and what she has to say about the period. I'm also looking forward to seeing what happens to Ben, Rose and Minou in future books - I hope they all see sense and emigrate to Paris and live happily ever after but knowing how Hambly likes to put her characters through the mill, I can't see that happening.
What do You think about Die Upon A Kiss (2002)?
I liked the first book in this series, A Free Man of Color. The detective, Benjamin January is an engaging hero -- a Paris educated black man living in New Orleans' post-French, Creole-American incarnation. After a promising start this series runs out of steam, perhaps reaching a nadir is this book. Not that I could be totally sure, because I must confess I skimmed this one before giving up, at least for the moment. I might be being too hasty, but when a character living in 1835 thinks in Powerpoint bullet headings on the first page while being followed in a dark alley I kind of lose interest.
—Hana
Much as I'm loving this series, I thought this was the weakest of the books so far. The mystery involves an opera troupe and is just way too confused. So many people with too many hidden agendas. For the majority of the book neither the reader nor the protagonist has any idea what's going on and when the solution(s) finally comes, it's nearly so complex as to be incomprehensible. It feels confused and forced. I enjoyed the bits about the operas themselves way more than the plot. Oh well, I'm still eager to get my hands on the next in the series.
—Kim
An opera of Othello is perhaps not the wisest choice for an Italian troupe's premiere performance in New Orleans in 1835. Benjamin Janvier, a musician and a free man of color, thinks it might well be the motive for a mysterious attack on the opera's conductor outside the theater one evening. (By the way, "To Die Upon a Kiss" are the dying words of Othello in Shakespeare's play.)Hambly's writing is beautiful and absorbing. I enjoyed this novel very much, even if the mystery itself was a little out there. The interaction between characters who speak various dialects of French, English, Italian and Spanish is particularly engaging in this book. (Janvier is a polyglot). My interest in opera does not extend far past Gilbert & Sullivan, but I nevertheless enjoyed the characterization of the performers and the backstage environment of the new American Theater, built to compete with the French Théâtre d'Orléans.I'm completely in love with these characters. I'm worried about the laudanum-addicted, consumptive Hannibal: he's been in bad shape for five novels now, how much longer can he hang on? I'm worried about Janvier's sister Dominique, the placée who is in love with her white protector, who is about to marry. And of course, there's Janvier himself: my biggest problem with this series is still my utter disbelief that he would remain in New Orleans despite the danger and the relentless oppression. It's very well that he enjoys his family, and the food and the music of his home, but I still wish he would beg, borrow or steal enough money for passage back to Europe. Taking Rose with him. But then there would be no more books, I suppose.
—Jamie
