Bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color and Fever Season established Benjamin January as one of mystery's most exciting heroes. Now he returns in a powerful new novel, a sensual mosaic of old New Orleans, where cultures clash and murder can hover around every darkened corner....

It is St. John's Eve in the summer of 1834 when Benjamin January—Creole physician and music teacher—is shattered by the news that his sister has been arrested for murder. The Guards have only a shadow of a case against her. But Olympe—mystical and rebellious—is a woman of color, whose chance for justice is slim.

As Benjamin probes the allegation, he is targeted by a new threat: graveyard dust sprinkled at his door, whispering of a voodoo death curse. Now, to save Olympe's life—and his own—Benjamin knows he must glean information wherever he can find it. For in the heavy darkness of New Orleans, the truth is what you make it, and justice can disappear with the night's warm breeze as easy as graveyard dust.... "January is without a doubt one of the most distinctive detectives ever put to page."—Times-Picayune, New Orleans

"The creole air is thick with a mix of reality, magic....This book revels in atmosphere."—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Hambly brings to life a culture so different it might be another world....Fascinating."—Denver Post

"January proves [to be] the ideal guide....The keenest observer of the custom of the country."—The New York Times Book Review

"Emotional authenticity...and rich historical trappings give the novel power and depth."—Publishers Weekly