Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed Murder in July: Historical mystery set in New Orleans (A Benjamin January Mystery) on + 1032 more book reviews
Switching back and forth between Paris in 1830 and New Orleans in 1839, once again Hambly immerses the reader into the dangerous past. I didn't find this one as tension-filled as some of the previous, and considering this is 2020, I'm fine with that - I have enough tension already. I didn't figure out the mystery although I enjoyed how the two different murders echoed each other. I definitely wasn't expecting either solution to go in the directions they did. The plot does rely heavily on a couple coincidences, but it's done well IMO. I liked the descriptions of the July Revolution in France; I know only a little of that history so I went and looked it up to get a bit more depth. And I'm really liking Olympe more and more, although it's funny because I'm not certain how I feel about the whole voodoo thing. I'm definitely not adverse to books with supernatural themes, but this series has been so firmly grounded in reality that Olympe's communications with her gods, who are always correct, feel just a little out of place to me. OTOH I really would like to see more of her. Anyway...the last page, with January reflecting on how his life has changed, is very poignant. Looking forward to the next.
