Good Man Friday (A Benjamin January Mystery)
To support his family, Benjamin January, musician and trained surgeon, agrees to travel from New Orleans to Washington City with Henri and Chloe Viellard to search for Mr. Singletary, who has disappeared. The three are accompanied by Dominique, who is January’s half-sister and Henri Viellard’s mistress. In 1838 Washington City, January, a former slave, and the wealthy Viellards, along with Edgar Poe, work to trace the missing man. Their investigation leads them to grave robbers, spies, and men who kidnap freedmen to sell them into slavery. After a newly freed slave is murdered, and members of their group are kidnapped, they unravel the clues, uncovering an unlikely culprit. Detailed descriptions of Washington City and its inhabitants and the precarious lives of freedmen in the South are woven throughout a complex mystery, vividly immersing the reader in a different time and culture. Well-drawn characters, from January to government officials to tradesmen to wealthy planters, populate this fascinating entry in the long-running series. --Sue OBrien