Die upon a Kiss, Barbara Hambly
Die upon a Kiss, Barbara Hambly
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

Die upon a Kiss

Author: Barbara Hambly

Narrator: Ron Butler

Unabridged: 14 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/09/2021

Synopsis

In February 1835, the cold New Orleans streets are alight with masked Mardi Gras revelers as the American Theater’s impresario, Lorenzo Belaggio, brings a magnificent yet controversial operatic version of Othello to town. But it’s pitch-black in the alley where free man of color Benjamin January hears a slurred whisper, spies the flash of a knife, and is himself wounded as he rescues Belaggio from a vicious attack. Could competition for audiences—or for Belagio’s affections—provoke such violent skulduggery? Or is Shakespeare’s tragic tale, with its spectacle of a black man’s passion for a white beauty, one that some Creole citizen—or American parvenu—would do anything to keep off the stage? The soaring music will lead January into a tangle of love, hate, and greed more treacherous than any onstage drama, as he must discover who is responsible … and who will Die Upon a Kiss.

About Barbara Hambly

Barbara Hambly holds a degree in medieval history from the University of California and has written novels in many genres, from mysteries to science fiction and fantasy. Married to science fiction writer George Alec Effinger, she lives in Los Angeles and teaches at a local college.

About Ron Butler

Ron Butler is a Los Angeles based actor who works regularly as a commercial and animation voiceover artist and an audiobook narrator. A member of the Atlantic Theater Company, he has over a hundred film and television credits to his name and won an Independent Filmmaker Project Award for his work in the HBO film Everyday People.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Hope on August 23, 2009

This book happened to catch my eye at the library. I don't think I knew that Ms. Hambly wrote mysteries before I found this volume. It's actually the 5th book featuring Benjaman January, a free man of color in New Orleans in the early 1800's. Like other Hambly characters, January is prone to omni-co......more

Goodreads review by Sylvia on June 07, 2017

I should have a shelf SHAKESPEARE SPOKEN HERE but then I would embarrass myself by how many references went right over my head. Anyhow. In a Louisiana where white (rich) men regularly set up their official black mistresses (AKA placee, with the little french mark under the first e) in their own houses......more

Goodreads review by Kathy KS on September 16, 2019

I have enjoyed this series and it's setting in early 19th century New Orleans. No matter what the "mystery" in each, it's whole ambiance and feel of the time period and place through the eyes of a free black man, Benjamin January, that really makes these stories. On the downside, I found this one to......more

Goodreads review by Karen on May 14, 2022

Set in antebellum New Orleans, Hambly's Benjamin January series has long been one of my favorites. I'm not sure how I missed this one, but it's a winner. If you haven't read any of these, I'd start with the first one, A Free Man of Color, and proceed through the lot of them. January is the free man......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on March 10, 2018

I wanted to like this, I really tried to like this. It just didn't grab me and I did not finish it. There were a number of things about this that should have made it a perfect read for me: I love New Orleans and this is set there, I love Shakespeare and there's a Shakespearean connection, I enjoy the......more

Quotes

“The Benjamin January series is well worth reading for the depth and richness of the author’s historical research and her exquisite evocation of the Byzantine class structure, exotic culture, and menacing politics of antebellum New Orleans.” Publishers Weekly

“Intelligent, thought provoking, and—let’s not forget what genre we’re in here—thoroughly mysterious.” Booklist

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