Wet Grave
Barbara Hambly Book Review

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Plot Summary of Wet Grave

"

Bantam, Jun 2002, 23.95, 304 pp.
ISBN: 0553109359

In 1835 New Orleans, Olympia Snakebones sends for her brother Benjamin January to come to the poorer side of town because someone killed a free colored lady, Hesione LeGros. The victim was stabbed to death with the culprit obviously searching her shack for something, but it was not for financial reasons. The killer never robbed Hesione or took the money in her possession.

The city guards fail to arrive to investigate the homicide as they are busy with the murder of a white plus blacks receive “leftover” justice in the same way slaves receive food scraps. Refusing to ignore the crime, Benjamin accompanied by his beloved Rose Vitric begins making inquiries into the brutal death of an old woman.

The January historical mysteries are some of the best nineteenth century tales on the market regardless of genre. The story line vividly brings New Orleans with its caste society to life so that the reader feels as if they are visiting the locale. The who-done-it is cleverly designed to further bring out the era and the hero. Fans of historical tales, especially mysteries will want to read WET GRAVE and the previous January novels that Barbara Hambly has written because these are insightfully top quality.

Harriet Klausner

Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout.

"
Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Wet Grave

Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%

Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story: - 19th century
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Kind of investigator - skilled citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - minority/women/homosexual issues
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - champion of justice
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - Black
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - business executive
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - revenge
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Deep South

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 1
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Most similar books to Wet Grave
Murder on Nob Hill by Shirley Tallman
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A Watery Grave by Joan Druett
Louisa and The Missing Heiress by Anna Maclean

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Barbara Hambly Book Review