Saving Louisa
Saving Louisa is a descriptive title, describing the action and alluding to a less than tragic ending. This is the second book featuring Josiah Beede who left New Orleans for New Hampshire in a previous book Death of a Mill Girl (2002). He returns to the Crescent City with his freed slave, Randolph, to search for Randolph’s wife, Louisa, left behind in slavery and sold before he could raise the money to purchase her freedom. This is roughly the same period, between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, as the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly. The “Kaintucks” (Americans) invigorating the city at the expense of the older Creole, French and Spanish elements of the city, the class distinctions exacerbated by the practice of slavery and plantation agriculture, the dangers for even free persons of color, plus some remolded gold pieces and the lingering traces of the Battle of New Orleans, all play into the plot. Andrew Jackson is used as an offstage deus ex machina to foil a conspiracy. The reunion of Randolph and Louisa is handled gently and realistically, allowing for the separation’s toll under the existing conditions. If you enjoy period mysteries you will like this one, which combines the glamour of New Orleans with the tidy capability of New England residents.
