Crime fiction readers know a novel named Robicheaux (Simon & Schuster) can come only from the pen of James Lee Burke. He introduced New Iberia, La. sheriff's detective Dave Robicheaux in The Neon Rain more than 30 years ago, and this is the 21st book in the series. Robicheaux is a stand-up guy on the side of the innocents, but he's also an alcoholic who can fall off the wagon,  haunted by his memories of war, fallen soldiers and lost loves. It's also possible that he may have murdered the man who accidentally killed his wife Molly in a car wreck, but there's plenty of other trouble to go around. Much of it involves his old partner Clete Purcel, who has gotten tangled up with silver-tongued Senate candidate Jimmy Nightingale, who is in cahoots with career criminal Big Tony Nemo. The latter would like to make movies out of reclusive writer Levon Broussard's Civil War novels, while Nightingale has his eyes on Broussard's wife. The writing is often lovely and lyrical, the plot is intricate and blood-stained.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever

I mainly read science fiction and fantasy for many years, and then back in the 90s ran across a review in Locus magazine, talking about a novel with the great title "In the Electric Mists With the Confederate Dead" and how it blended the themes and feeling of fantasy along with a crime novel. Well, I had to give it a try, and for about the next 10 years or so, I read everything that James Lee Burke wrote. Of course, once I started on that path I began to discover other crime/thriller writers like Lee Child and so many more. Then, Burke got kind of left behind. Well shame on me. He is writing better than ever. This novel is built around the feel of the bayous of Louisiana and just works the heck out of that atmosphere, while telling a very complex story. It is so very much a novel of character, but there is plenty of story there too. That's enough for me to say about it - because you need to read it, so I'm not going to say any more, because I don't want to spoil it for you. Then when you're led to read the rest of his work, you can say thanks for not being a spoiler.

I received a free Kindle copy of Robincheaux by James Lee Burke courtesy of Net Galley  and Simon and Schuster, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I am looking for another author in the mystery/thriller genre. It is the first book by James Lee Burke that I have read.

This is a well written and engaging book. The author does an excellent job in taking the reader through the rural Louisana country while weaving a story of suspense. While this novel can stand alone, I strongly recommend going back and reading the other twenty if you have not. I plan to do that so that I have some additional background on the main characters. Overall, this book will not disappoint.

Published by Simon & Schuster on January 2, 2018

Dave Robicheaux falls off the wagon, has a blackout, and finds himself accused of murdering T.J. Dartez, the man who was responsible for his wife’s death. That’s a fairly standard thriller plot but James Lee Burke is not a standard thriller writer.

Dave’s involvement is investigated by an unlikeable colleague named Spade Labiche — unlikeable because he’s racist, sexist, and corrupt. While Dave is being investigated, he’s assigned to an investigation of his own. An acquaintance, Jimmy Nightingale, is accused of raping the wife of another acquaintance, Levon Broussard, after Dave introduced them. Nightingale is a politician who owns part of a reverse mortgage company that preys on the elderly and on Dave’s buddy Clete Purcel. He’s the kind of patrician elitist who tries to convince good old boys that he’s one of them, conning his way to election victories.

Broussard and Nightingale and Tony “Nine Ball” Nemo, who controls the southern branch of a criminal organization, are all involved in the production of a Civil War movie based on one of Broussard’s books. Broussard is a decent guy who has a blind spot about the Civil War. After Broussard shows Dave a Confederate flag carried by a 14-year-old boy at Shiloh, Dave thinks of his friend: “Yet here we stood in reverence of an iconic flag that retained the pink stain of a farm boy’s blood, and whether anybody would admit it or not, the cause it represented was the protection and furtherance of human bondage.” Dave’s daughter Alafair helps write the script, although she doesn’t have much use for Nightingale or Nemo or, for that matter, Labiche.

James Lee Burke’s discussion of the rape investigation presents a balanced view of the difficulty that fair-minded officers have when the truthfulness of a sexual assault allegation is less than clear. He also gives a harsh but unbiased account of corruption and unchecked drinking as a way of life in parts of Louisiana, while extolling the virtues of Cajun culture.

As always, Burke is a keen observer of life. He writes about what Americans do “when we lose faith in ourselves and reach out for the worst members of our species.” He unmasks hate-mongers who disguise their vile rhetoric as a protest against political correctness. All of that adds interest to the story without becoming a distraction.

Dave suspects that Nemo and a cruel character named Kevin Penney were somehow involved in the murders of eight prostitutes (the Jeff Davis Eight) that were the backdrop to The Glass Rainbow. A creepy but oddly principled killer named Chester (a/k/a Smiley) also wanders through the story, complicating Dave’s life with a string of murders.

Burke’s characters are always strong. Dave’s friend Clete plays a significant role as he tries to balance his innate goodness against his desire to destroy evil. Dave has similar problems, although his real battle is with his desire to drown his problems in alcohol, which is what caused the mess that starts the story.

The plot is intricate but credible. Burke doesn’t tidy up every loose end, but life is untidy. Robicheaux isn’t my favorite Burke novel, or even my favorite Robicheaux novel, but Burke is one of my three favorite crime writers and his books never disappoint.

RECOMMENDED

classic robicheax..been reading this series since my first trip down to new orleans back in 1994. the newest one does not disappoint . good to see some of the old characters back. fast and enjoyable read

James Lee Burke’s novels are often considered crime fiction, but that does the author and his work a great disservice. Yes, there are police and criminals and investigations but the novels are so much richer and deeper than that. In my opinion, he is one of America’s greatest living authors. In this most recent outing for Dave Robicheaux and his pal Clete Purcel, Dave is suspected of murdering the man who killed his wife Molly in an auto accident. Dave’s friends and family don’t believe he could have committed the murder, but Dave doesn’t know because he was in an alcoholic blackout. In the midst of that investigation he and Clete are also dealing with a particularly slimy mobster, a senatorial candidate with a lot to hide, rape, child abuse, and one of the most unusual and terrifying killers in recent fiction. As he always does, James Lee Burke vividly brings the Louisiana setting to life. One of the things I most appreciate about Burke’s fiction is that everything isn’t neatly tied up at the end and evil doers aren’t always punished - just as it is in life.

Woven into this complex and absorbing story are Civil War history and the place it holds in southern consciousness, alcoholism and the very realistic depiction of it, the importance of family, and the code of honor Dave and Clete live by. A code of looking out for the weak and helpless, seeking justice, and behaving honorably and nobly. Because he tries to live honorably, Dave doesn’t lie or take the easy out offered to him to eliminate a possible murder charge. As he has in previous novels, Burke traces that code of honor and chivalry back to the tale of Roland and the battle of Roncevaux. (If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s fascinating reading.) There’s also a sly aside to a book written by a novelist in the story entitled “White Doves at Morning” where he refers to it as being the best book he’s written. Long time readers of Burke will recognize that title and it made me wonder if Burke considers that his best book.

There is a more elegiac tone in this book than in previous novels. “Solitude and peace with oneself are probably the only preparation one has for death. I put the statement in the third person for a reason. I don’t believe I ever achieved these things with any appreciable degree of success. But there are moments when we understand that the earth and the sky and the presences that may lie behind them are always with us.” Burke may have become more focused on mortality, but I hope he has an exceedingly long and healthy life so there will be many more books to come.

My review was posted on Goodreads on 1/10/18.

I've been recommended books from this series since I joined Goodreads and I finally got my hands on one of them.

It took me around two weeks to read it. Even I'm not that slow at reading. I just could not find the will power to want to pick it up. I did finish the sucker though so I'm giving it a big old two star. It wasn't the worst book I've ever read but it was not my favorite so we will go with the average...


You have your main character who has recently lost his wife. Battles the alcohol. Has a bestie who might go off the deep end on some bad guys at any point in the story. Then throw in some mob guys, a crooked politician and a weird serial killer.

Wait, that sounds like I'd sell a kidney for a book like that! The thing is? I just never felt into the story. I never gave any craps to what the outcome was going to be or who was going to end up with bullets holes.
I do work nights and the last few weeks have me so sleep deprived that I have a new obsession.

nah...I'm not excusing it. I can not even work up a good review for this one. I'm just glad I finally finished the sucker.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

ROBICHEAUX
James Lee Burke
Simon & Schuster
ISBN 978-1-5011-7684-3
Hardcover
Fiction

So it is that within the first few days of 2018 we are blessed with what is surely one of the best books to be published this year. I was certain that James Lee Burke had written finis to the Dave Robicheaux canon in 2013 with LIGHT OF THE WORLD, the twentieth book in the series. The newly published ROBICHEAUX proves me wrong, and gladfully so. It is said that a used key stays shiny, and all of Burke’s tools --- his characterizations, plots, and brilliantly descriptive prose --- are on full display here, with Burke once again giving us some of the best of his always masterful writing.

There have been changes in Robicheaux’s life in the interval between novels. ROBICHEAUX begins at least a few years after LIGHT OF THE WORLD, and finds Dave dealing with the sudden death of his wife Molly, two years previously, as the result of an automobile accident for which Molly was ultimately judged responsible. Dave is haunted by the potential culpability of the other driver, and ultimately confronts him. When the man is later found beaten to death, circumstances make Dave a person of interest in the murder. The worst of it is that Dave himself believes that he might indeed be culpable in the man’s death, but is honestly unable to be certain of his guilt or innocence. The matter is further complicated by Dave’s position with the New Iberia Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the murder. That question plays out throughout the course of ROBICHEAUX as it intersects and intertwines with other plot lines. These include a dying old school New Orleans mobster who wants to be involved in a film project based upon a novel written by a local author; a mentally unstable ex-convict who may have been involved in a series of murders; and the campaign for the United States Senate of a gambling and real estate magnate with possible links to each of those men. In the midst of all of this, and more, Burke introduces what may be Robicheaux’s most intriguing adversary to date (after a score of books published over the course of thirty years), that being a diminutive button man who moves with homicidal purpose through southern Louisiana with seeming impunity, with Dave --- and others close to him --- as a possible target. Dave, as always, is helped and hindered in equal measure by Clete Purcel, one of the most complicated and attractive characters one is likely to find in modern fiction. Purcel, as always, is guided --- if that is the proper word --- in his actions by equal parts of free-fall impulse and deep-seated nobility, and that is never more true than in ROBICHEAUX, where his actions near the conclusion of the book may well ultimately play out in future installments in the series.

Or not. ROBICHEAUX, though complete in itself, leaves a couple of loose ends hanging at the close of the book. While they are intriguing and nagging, they do not necessarily beg for a resolution. The vitality of ROBICHEAUX and each and every one of its predecessors is grand enough to leap off of the page and into this world, and in this world not everything --- very little, in fact --- is neatly and completely resolved. Burke on the one hand could end the series right here, as he could have (and more neatly) with LIGHT OF THE WORLD. On the other hand, I took the sense that ROBICHEAUX could be thought of as the first independent half of a much longer work. Either way, ROBICHEAUX stands among Burke’s best. Very strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2018, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

“You ever hear of the Bobbsey Twins from homicide?”

Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel are back. For those that have never read the work of James Lee Burke, it’s time; for those that have missed his two best loved characters, this new release will be as welcome, as cool and refreshing as a Dr. Pepper with cherries and ice. Lucky me, I read it free thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster in exchange for this honest review.

Robicheaux is a Cajun cop from New Iberia, a small town an hour from New Orleans. Southern Louisiana, he tells us in his confidential narrative, has become “the Walmart of the drug culture.” He is under tremendous pressure; grieving the loss of his wife, Molly in an auto accident, he blacks out one drunken night, the same night that a murder occurs. Dave was in the area, and he cannot say he didn’t commit the murder, because he can’t recall anything. That’s why they call it a black out. His daughter Alafair returns from the Pacific Northwest to help her father pull himself together; she tells him he didn’t do it because murder is not in him. Clete says the same thing. But Dave is a haunted man, and he wonders what he is capable of.

To cap it all off, Dave has been assigned to investigate the rape of Lowena Broussard. Her story doesn’t gel, and he wonders if it actually happened.

All of the fictional ingredients that make up Burke’s fictional gumbo are here: slick politicians, mobsters, thugs, and sociopaths. We also have people from Hollywood, whose casually entitled behavior and attitudes are anathema to Robicheaux and probably also to Burke. Alafair has been hired to write a screen play, and lascivious comments directed her way from those in charge of the film make Dave see red.

Clete figures prominently here; as longtime readers already know, Clete “would not only lay down his life for a friend, he would paint the walls with his friend’s enemies.” At one point a couple of thugs follow him into the men’s room at a local bar, and we fear they will kill him. Instead, “Maximo and Juju went to the hospital, and Clete went to the can.”

Burke has long been admired for the way he renders setting. A creative writing teacher could assign this book, because examples of how to render a place in a way that is original and immediate can be found by flipping to almost any page. But there’s more than that here. The dialogue crackles. The narrative is luminous at times, philosophical at others (are the Confederates the new Nazis?) and hilarious here and there as well. It’s enough to make ordinary writers sigh; I may write, and you may write, but neither of us will ever write like this.

There’s also plenty of fascinating Cajun culture here, and it’s so vastly different from anything I have known in my long life, most of it spent in the Pacific Northwest, that I find myself rereading passages. There’s a travelogue feel to parts of it that is unmatched anywhere else.

Lastly, I have to tell you that this story holds an extra element of suspense for me. These characters were originally crafted in the 1960s, and our author is growing old. I wonder as I read whether he intends to kill his heroes, one or both, in order to prevent future pretenders from usurping them. Every time I find Clete in danger, my heart nearly stops. I know that Dave has to make it all or most of the way through this book because it’s written in the first person, but Clete can go any damn minute.

Will Burke pull the plug?

Obviously I am not going to tell you anything more; the quotes you see above all occur early. But for those that can read work that is gritty and at times violent—I had to take little breaks now and then—there is no better fiction anywhere.

Another beautifully written mystery from James Lee Burke. Dave Robicheaux and his friend Cletus once again stand up for the underdog while battling their own demons.

James Lee Burke turned 81 in early December 2017. When I picture the face of his majestic and flawed hero, Dave Robicheaux, it is his creator’s face I see. The Robicheaux books have been filmed several times but the best one I have seen is In The Electric Mist (2009) starring Tommy Lee Jones, and Mr Jones is good a ringer for Mr Burke – and my vision of Robicheaux - as you will ever see.

Dave Robicheaux is a police officer in New Iberia, Louisiana, a few miles down the road from its big sister, New Orleans. Burke introduced him in The Neon Rain (1987) and, since then, fans like me have followed Dave’s every move, in and out of alcoholism, sharing his visions of ghostly Confederate troops trudging their spectral way through the swampland and along the fringes of the bayous, and bringing down bad men with the help of his bail skiptracer buddy, the elemental force known as Cletus Purcell.

Robicheaux: You Know My Name has an end-of-days feel about it. Is this endgame for Robicheaux? Emotionally, he is in a bad way. His wife (the latest of several) Molly is dead, innocent victim in a case of reckless driving.

“I could not sleep Sunday night, and on Monday I woke with a taste like pennies in my mouth and a sense that my life was unspooling before me, that the world in which I lived was a fabrication, that the charity abiding in the human breast was a collective self-delusion …”

His adopted daughter Alafair is away writing her novels and making her way in the world. Even Tripod, his three-legged raccoon pal is no more. Choose your metaphor; a gathering wind bearing a scent of impending catastrophe, a cloud of retribution, a murmured lament for the dead and dying becoming louder by the minute? Robicheaux describes one of the characters;

“I was old enough to know that insanity comes in many forms, some benign, some viral and capable of spreading across continents, but I believed I had just looked into the eyes of someone who was genuinely mad and probably not diagnosable, the kind of idealist who sets sail on the Pequod and declares war against the universe.”

All very gothic and, perhaps, melodramatic, but fans of the series will know not to expect half measures. The overpowering Louisiana climate does not do pastel shades: it never drizzles – the rain comes down like magnum bullets clanging into tin roofs; the wet heat saps the spirit, and makes men mad, and women madder.

“That weekend, southern Louisiana was sweltering, thunder cracking as loud as cannons in the night sky; at sunrise, the storm drains clogged with dead beetles that had shells as hard as pecans. It was the kind of weather we associated with hurricanes and tidal surges and winds that ripped tin roofs off houses and bounced them across sugarcane firlds like crushed beercans; it was the kind of weather that gave the lie to the sleepy Southern culture whose normalcy we so fiercely nursed and protected from generation to generation.”

The plot? Obviously there is one, and it is excellent, but such is the power and poetry of James Lee Burke’s writing that the action is often completely subsumed by the language. A grim ostinato to the story is Robicheaux’s bitter resentment towards the man whose reckless driving killed Molly. Said driver is found dead, and Robicheaux become prime suspect in a murder case..

“How do you handle it when your anger brims over the edge of the pot?You use the shortened version of the Serenity Prayer, which is “Fuck it”. Like Voltaire’s Candide tending his own garden, or the British infantry going up the Khyber Pass one bloody foot at a time, you do your job, and you grin and walk through the cannon smoke, and you just keep saying, “Fuck it”…..”Fuck it” is not profanity. “Fuck it” is a sonnet.”


Bent fellow cop Spade Labiche is involved in all manner of dirty deals and deeds, while former top federal informant – and thoroughly vile human being – Kevin Penny is found dead in his trailer, slowly murdered by an electric drill. Meanwhile, as Clete Purcell plays foster parent to Penny’s young son, dying mobster Tony Nemo attempts to bankroll a Civil War movie written by an angry novelist whose wife may (or may not) have been raped by the charismatic Trump-like politician, Jimmy Nightingale. Robicheaux attends one of Nightingale’s campaign rallies.

“He gave voice to those who had none – and to those who had lost their jobs because of bankers and Wall Street stockbrokers and NAFTA politicians who had made a sieve of our borders and allowed millions of illegals into our towns and cities…..Was he race-baiting or appealing to the xenophopia and nativism that goes back to the Irish immigration of the 1840s? Not in the mind of his audience. Jimmy was telling it like it is.”

James Lee Burke is nothing if not passionate about how powerful people abuse the weak, the poor, the defenceless and the gullible. His bad men are satanic and implacable – until they meet the destructive force-field created when Robicheaux and Purcell – The Bobsy Twins – go into action. This is a bleak book emotionally, swimming with anger, but full of the poetry of loss and mortality.

“…the dead are still with us, like the boys in butternut marching through the flooded cypress at Spanish Lake, and the slaves who beckon us to remove the chains that bind them to the auction block, and all the wandering souls who want to scratch their names on a plaster wall so someone will remember their sacrifice, the struggle that bgan with the midwife’s slap of life, and their long day’s journey into the grave.”

In Robicheaux, James Lee Burke takes you deep inside a Louisiana filled with murder, corruption and mystery. Dave Robicheaux is a cop in New Iberia, but when the man who killed his wife in a car accident is murdered, Dave isn’t sure if he’s responsible because he had fallen off the wagon and was blackout drunk. Along with his best friend, private investigator Clete Purcell, he tries to find out the truth of what happened. Clete has a gambling problem that threatens to take away his livelihood when New Orleans mobster Fat Tony Nemo buys his debt.

Slick politician Jimmy Nightingale seeks Dave’s help for an introduction to oddball novelist Levon Broussard in order to make a film out of his civil war novel. Instead, Jimmy winds up accused of raping Broussard’s wife Rowena and Dave is assigned to investigate. Meanwhile, a chilling killer for hire named “Smiley” shows up and starts taking players off the board. It’s up to Dave and Clete to unravel things and try to find some sort of justice. Figuring out what that justice might be is the hardest part.

Burke writes amazing characters. Robicheaux and Purcell have tortured pasts but work hard to maintain their moral compasses. Events have a way of challenging those beliefs when the greater good isn’t always easy to discern. Burke surrounds these two with oddball and eccentric characters that range from inspiring to corrupt and evil. Each one is complicated and multi-faceted. Bodies continue to pile up, but Robicheaux doggedly moves forward, shining the light as brightly on his own possible actions as on those of anyone else.

Robicheaux is an excellent novel that holds your attention from start to finish. Burke provides enough background that new readers can feel free to jump in without having read previous books. I have a feeling this book will be on some ‘best of 2018’ lists at the end of the year. Highly recommended!

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

If you have not read this series before, ignore the fact that this is the 21st book and just read it. Dave Robicheaux is one of the best characters in modern American crime literature. Yes, I said literature. James Lee Burke has a command of the English language far beyond that of many writers considered literary. There's beauty in the way he describes Louisiana and, more importantly, its people. He's a good man who has a lot of demons. At his core, however, he's incredibly smart and devoted to both his family and doing right. Robicheaux's struggle with alcohol is epic- and Burke writes about it with great understanding and empathy. He may have lost his wife and his. beloved raccoon Tripod but he's still got his daughter Alafair (just google her) and best of all his old buddy Clete. Clete is a man of excess but he too is devoted to doing the right thing and most of all to Dave. As always, this is a complicated novel full of twists and turns, good guys and bad guys, and it's deeply rewarding. This time there's a writer, his wife, a populist politician, interesting police officers, the usual mob guys, and an assassin, One special thing- Burke once again commends the US Coast Guard for its good work during Katrina. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I can't recommend this highly enough.

When the murderer of his wife is killed, Dave Robicheaux is a possible suspect. Trouble is, he fell off the wagon that night and can’t remember what he did and he can’t be sure he isn’t guilty. But he isn’t the only suspect and he and best friend, Clete, are determined to find the truth regardless of what it means for Dave

Robicheaux is author James Lee Burke’s twenty-first novel and, as always, he gives us one hell of a story. Burke is a master of the literary thriller – stories that are as smart as they are, well, thrilling. Perhaps this is because his books are just as character- as plot-driven and the characters are always complex and believable individuals. In this case, there is a huge cast including a mobster who wants to make a movie, an opportunistic politician, producers, unhappy wives, writers including Dave’s (and clearly based on Burke’s own) daughter, Alafair as well as a contract killer who loves children and is more than willing to kill anyone he suspects of abusing them. Despite the large cast, there are no real saints or sinners here – just shades of grey.

Burke is also never afraid to deal with both topical and controversial subjects – white supremacy, racism, bigotry, and misogeny, the divide between rich and poor, political manipulation, and child abuse and he always manages to do it with sensitivity and thoughtfulness. And as in most of his novels, Louisiana is both setting and character with its heat, its prejudices, its ties to its past which it cannot or will not wilingly give up, its crimes, passions, and uniqueness.

Burke is considered one of, if not the most important living writer in the United States and for good reason. His prose is almost lyrical, his plots and characters are complex and interesting, the pace is neither too fast nor too slow to keep the reader engaged and his stories are intelligent, never condescending, never question the reader’s intelligence or ability to follow where it leads.

Another great read from the master.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

I have read and enjoyed all of James Lee Burke's novels especially the Dave Robicheaux series. I was pleased to read, after a lengthy break, Dave and Clet are back. I honestly did not want this novel to end, I savored every page and chapter. It was killing me not to post my favorite passages. Didn't want to post any spoilers. Highly recommended.

Robicheaux is the 21st book in the Dave Robicheaux series by American author James Lee Burke. Burke is definitely America's greatest living author and each of his books are a treasure. I feel like Robicheaux is a gift to Burke's many fans. It has all the satisfaction that comes from a great present.

Robicheaux finds Dave and Clete in New Iberia and New Orleans. Dave has just lost his wife Molly and has been drinking again. The book centers around whether or not Dave took revenge on the driver that killed Molly. Dave has been suffering blackouts so he has no idea what happened on the night in question.

Robicheaux is a love story. It is a story about a deep abiding friendship between Dave and Clete. Never more does the reader understand the depths of affection between these two. And it is the story of a father's love for daughter. And it is a story about losing someone unexpectedly and the trauma it leaves behind in one's heart.

Robicheaux is filled with fascinating characters as every Burke novel is. Burke understands evil in a way that other author's struggle with. His portrayal of evil in his characters define his writing. I felt the evil in the politician Jimmy Nightingale in Robicheaux.  In a mirror of today's political scene in the US, Burke gives us a character who is able to work up people based on old prejudices that are simmering beneath the surface of society. He shows us how someone can rise to power using old hatreds.

The writing of course is amazing. Burke has a way with words like no other. Everyone has an author whose books they look forward to each year. James Lee Burke's books are always met with huge excitement in this household. My husband and I have even been to New Iberia to look for Dave and Clete. (We live thousands of miles away in western Canada).

Highly recommend! Cannot wait for Burke's next book!!!

“Robicheaux” is number twenty-one in James Lee Burke’s “Robicheaux” series, but it can be read as a “stand alone.” I am a new reader, but it took only a little time to become familiar with all the characters; Burke fills in any needed background as the story goes along.
Dave Robicheaux is a Louisiana police detective, devoted and complex, and yet imperfect and troubled. He is tormented by the death of his wife, his time in Vietnam, and his alcohol abuse. The addition of a contract killer and a police detective with his own issues create a potentially toxic situation.
Burke creates multifaceted and complex characters. It is hard to distinguish the good from the bad because they are all tangled in the same unsavory web. Readers must assess if the good qualities are outweighed by flaws.
Louisiana is also a character with its heat and humidity, its past and present, and its people and alligators. Louisiana’s social climate, economic damage, and historic past keep the story moving as much as the individuals do.

James Lee Burke is a natural born storyteller. The book is not a “nail-biting” thriller, but carries readers along as it ebbs and flows effortlessly. It makes readers think rather than recoil. The dialogue is clear and compelling. The characters are provocative and genuine. The story is riveting and vivid.

I received a copy of “Robicheaux” from James Lee Burke, Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley. I had previously only read one of Burke’s books, and it was not from this series. I greatly enjoyed reading “Robicheaux” and no I have twenty more books on my “to read” list.

JLB is a tremendous writer: he takes the crime genre and elevates it to something poetic. Sadly, though, for me this isn't one of his best books. The deeply flawed characters of Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcell tip too far into the dark here, and move from being haunted to too close to depressed. Not without reason, given their pasts, but still, that tipping of the balance didn't work for me.

Add to that a plot that rather unbelievably has Robicheaux under investigation for murder, and a hugely complicated set of stories filled with a vast cast of characters and this became just too unwieldy.

It's hard to keep a series going this long and maintain interest and freshness - some of the earlier books kept me enthralled; this one became too much of a chore. JLB is still a star of literary crime fiction, this just isn't his best.

When I first met Dave Robicheaux, in The Neon Rain, the Vietnam veteran was a lieutenant in the New Orleans PD and was already wrestling with an addiction to alcohol. In those early days he was prone to occasional blackouts during which the red mist that sometimes descended could push him to commit vile acts of violence, the details of which usually escaped him the morning after. Well time has moved on in the books that have followed (this is the 21st) and throughout much of this period Dave has been based some 130 miles away in the smaller city of New Iberia, in the heart of Cajun country. And that's where we find him in this latest book, struggling to come to terms with the loss of his wife in a motoring accident.

Robicheaux’s manner is abrupt and his conversations with just about everyone tend to end in harsh words and/or accusation. Yes, he's not a bundle of laughs, in fact his normal demeanour makes Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch look like a standup comedian. And yet I, like probably all of JLB’s regular readers, I have come to love this man. He sets high moral standards for himself and others but he works to his own set of rules which allow him license to operate, at times, outside of standard police parameters. He tries to do the right thing, but in his own way.

His regular sidekick, Clete Purcell, is once again on the scene as Dave becomes entangled in an investigation into the violent death of a man who met his end during the period of one of his blackouts. Robicheaux had fallen off the wagon and, like times of old, has no recollection of events on the fateful night. Did he kill a man? He begins to think that he just might have. Clete adds the humour in these stories. He's a wild man but with a moral compass as well defined as Dave's own. He's brutal and hilarious in equal measure. In fact, I believe he's my all time favourite fictional character and I'm only surprised that Burke hasn't yet seen fit to give him free rein in a book or two of his own.

I won't delve further into the plot as I really don't want to spoil this for anyone, but I will say that the standard of writing is out of the top drawer – as always – and I believe lovers of this series will certainly not be disappointed with this offering. It's not as fast and furious as some other books in the series, but this does allow us to see Robicheaux truly fighting his demons as he struggles to find the truth behind the events that unfolded whilst also mourning the loss of his wife and the erosion of the Cajun way of life he grew up with in his beloved Southern Louisiana homeland.