Mr. January goes to Washington, which is even more dangerous than New Orleans. Hambly as always brings the time period to life and since this is Washington, throws in a number of famous personages. Also we get to see the beginnings of baseball! The relationship between Henri, Chloe, and Dominque is quite interesting. After 12 of these I had a pretty good idea where the plot was going and who would turn out to be the villain. And to be fair, the plot follows familiar patterns...Ben is broke and someone offers him payment if he'll take on a dangerous task, he has to travel, he's always at risk of being kidnapped and sold, he finds sympathetic white men to help him out in places he can't go. But you can't beat the atmosphere Hambly creates and of course the circumstances of life as a black person back then were unequivocally horrific - it's a valuable theme. Looking for the next one.

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