My daughter couldn't face reading this one because the effect of the poorly proofread French--an ongoing problem with this series-- on her sensibilities is cumulative. And the editors let a real howler through in the first paragraph of the preface. In most of the books, we get "gens de couleur libre" which of course means people of free colour. Free people of colour would be "gens de couleur libres" with a plural adjective agreeing with plural "gens". This book has a new mistake, "gens de couleur libré" which can't even be translated. Oops.

Fortunately, the book is an easy one to skip within the series. There's a lot of parallelism. In the first chapter or so, a wealthy Turkish citizen is accused of murder. Benjamin knows it's not within the realm of possibility that this man, whom he knew in Paris, could commit this crime. Then comes a long flashback that takes up almost half the book. Ayesha, Benjamin's first wife, is an active character in this story. We don't learn much about her back story that we don't already know, and there are no surprises to her character; we already knew her through Benjamin, but it's nice to see her doing something besides sewing. After this, we're back in 1830s New Orleans, but suddenly Benjamin is in Paris. Then he awakens. He's started to dream about Ayesha, more vividly and even more frequently than usual. Rose is very understanding about this and we do gain some knowledge of Rose through their discussion. Benjamin also gains some closure.

In the second half of the book, Benjamin solves the New Orleans mystery which is in many ways similar to the Paris story with many parallels between the situation of Turkish concubines and New Orleans placées. ( )

http://ninecats.org/margaret/blog/2013/01/31/ran-away-barbara-hambly ( )

Ran Away is the eleventh in a series featuring Benjamin January, a "free man of colour" living in 1830s New Orleans. While each book in the series can stand alone, it makes more sense to read them in order, as they build on each other.

Ran Away opens with Ben January and his family learning about the arrest of Hüseyin Pasha, a Turkish nobleman living in New Orleans, for the murder of his two concubines. But Ben doesn't believe it as he knew the Turk previously in Paris, and tries to help prove his innocence.

The book consists of two connected stories - firstly, how January met Hüseyin Pasha ten years earlier in Paris, explaining why he is sure that the Turk is innocent, and secondly, January's attempts to prove that the Turk didn't kill the women in New Orleans.

The earlier story features Ayasha, January's first wife, who up to know we have seen little of. She actually gets January involved, firstly by asking him to help Shamira, one of Hüseyin Pasha's then concubines, who is ill. Later Shamira disappears from the house, and January is again involved in trying to find her.

I really liked the glimpse of January's earlier life in Paris that we get in this book, as well as the return to New Orleans. I think the bit I like best about this series is that the past does actually feel like "another country" - people have different attitudes, which are sometimes hard to understand, but they have them. Too much historical fiction feels like modern people in costume. These don't.

Why I picked it up: Eleventh in a series I've loved up to now. ( )

I am a long-time favourite of Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January mysteries, and each one is stellar in its own right. With the last few books we have been getting glimpses into January's life while he was in Paris before he returned home to New Orleans. This book provides even more insight, and we see a whole bunch of new and interesting characters that we've only had glimpses of before such as his first wife Ayasha. And we have all the old friends that we have come to know and love like Hannibal, and Abishag Shaw and his current wife Rose. In this book we see that Benjamin has always been one to pursue justice at considerable risk to his own life. When a man from Benjamin's Paris past who is called "The Turk" who in this book finds himself charged with the murder of his two concubines, January knows in his heart that The Turk is not guilty based on what he knew of him in Paris ten years before. So he proceeds to try to prove his innocence while dodging plots and violence from January's own New Orleans enemies. January must battle his own personal memories in order to try to prove Huseyin Pasha's innocence. Ms. Hambly's period detail is remarkable. We as readers experience the fear and the uncertainty that a free man of colour had to deal with on a daily basis in 1837 New Orleans. ( )