Book Review: Drinking Gourd

Drinking Gourd by Barbara Hambly

Reviewed by Chrystal V. Rhodes

“Here, without a protector, he was nothing.  Worse than nothing, he was worth at least a thousand dollars to anyone who could convince a buyer that he was property--and most buyers these days didn’t take much convincing.”

It’s 1839 in the state of Mississippi, and these are the thoughts of a free man of color named Benjamin January, the protagonist in the historical mystery novel, Drinking Gourd by Barbara Hambly.  This is the ninth book in her series featuring January, but this my first time reading Ms. Hambly’s work

In Drinking Gourd, January--a musician and a trained medical doctor-- is traveling the south working with the All-American Zoological Society’s Traveling Circus and Exhibition of Philosophical Curiosities.  Economic necessity has forced him to take a job with the traveling circus, in order to support his pregnant wife and his child back in New Orleans.  There’s not a lot of work for a black physician during these perilous times, so he’s glad to have a job.  However, January finds that his medical expertise is sorely needed when he is summoned by members of the Underground Railroad in Vicksburg, Mississippi to help one of their wounded “conductors”.  When another “conductor” in the clandestine group of abolitionists is murdered, and an associate of January’s is blamed for the deed, he finds himself racing against time to find the real killer before the names of everyone involved in the Underground movement are revealed, including his own identity.

It is a perilous undertaking for a black man in Mississippi.  To avoid suspicion and in order to stay alive, January, the learned physician who speaks French and Latin, has to pretend that he is an uneducated slave.  In his investigation, if he does uncover evidence that could exonerate the “conductor” as an innocent man, January can’t testify in court.  The law in Mississippi forbids a black man from testifying in court.  Despite these challenges, Hambly manages to weave an intricate tale of intrigue,   introducing an array of colorful as well as unsavory characters.  In fact, there are so many that at times I got lost as to who was who.  Yet, in Drinking Gourd Hambly has created a unique protagonist in Benjamin January, conveying the legitimate fears and precarious position of a free black man in the Deep South during slavery.   

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C.V. Rhodes is a member of the Speed City Sisters in Crime chapter and co-author, with L. Barnett Evans, of the Grandmothers, Incorporated cozy mystery series.  Visit their website at www.grandmothersinc.com