1841. It’s Carnival season in New Orleans. Free man of color Benjamin January, a surgeon turned piano player, with a talent for attracting trouble, is playing at an opulent masked ball when, little to his surprise, a quarrel breaks out between two guests, and his services are requested at a duel. Young planter Bastien Damoreau has accused a recent arrival to town of passing himself off as white, an insult not to be borne. The duel results in the stranger’s death. But when January examines the body, he’s disturbed to realise that young Damoreau couldn’t possibly be the killer, as the dead man was shot from behind. January knows it’s murder, but this is white people’s business, and calling attention to himself is not a risk he can afford to take. So when Detective Abishag Shaw asks if he’ll investigate, he declines, a decision he will later come to regret.
