private-investigators, thriller, suspense, mystery, crime-fiction

The present is the product of the past.
Nowhere is this more clearly apparent than in the stories centered on Dave Robicheaux in the bayou. If you've never read any of these you should prepare yourself for the dark side of life and the calling to investigate and work for justice whether as law enforcement or private. That being said, I loved this one at least as much as any of the others and hope that he continues to write more.
Can't call this an unbiased endorsement as I confess to being a Dave Robicheaux addict.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Simon and Schuster Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

Always a joy to read the latest by the incomparable literary crime fiction writer, James Lee Burke, painting a vivid and vibrant contemporary picture of the US, providing a political and social commentary on the cruelty, woes and horror inflicted on the land and its people by its political classes, devoid of any principles. This may be the 22nd in the series, but he has not lost his lyricism and sureness of touch in penning this twisted and complex tale of injustice, ritual murders, corruption, Hollywood film industry, the mafia, an abused ice cream loving hitman, and a Texas prison escapee. It is set in the lush, vibrant backwoods and swamps of a Louisana infested and poisoned by its legacy of slavery, brutality, environmental and cultural degradation, corporate and individual greed writ large on a landscape that once resembled God's own paradise on earth.

Dave Robicheaux discovers the crucified body of a young woman near Cyrpemort Point Estate. The Hollywood crowd have come to the state with Louisiana's own home boy done good, director Desmond Cormier, filming his latest movie here, with his companion with an unsavoury reputation, Antoine Butterworth and producer/writer, Lou Wexler, working closely with Alafair, Dave's daughter. As unspeakable brutal murders pile up, Robicheaux and his larger than life, loyal friend Clete Purcel are short on leads and wonder about the murderous connections with Hollywood as Cormier's movie with its opaque financial backing from the likes of Saudi Arabia and the Mob. On the loose is death row Texan prisoner, Hugo Tillinger, and the oddly likeable hitman, Chester 'Smiley' Wimple makes his presence felt, as indeed does the mob. The Iberia Sheriff Department's newest recruit, Bailey Robbins, becomes the source of love, obsession, and heartache for a troubled Robicheaux. As dark dangers threaten those closest to him, trusting no-one but Clete, Robicheaux gets closer to the killer and his own mortality.

Burke's characterisation is as brilliant as ever, with his psychological portrait of Robicheaux's interior life of dreams, flashbacks to the Vietnam war, hallucinations, the struggle to stay sober, the loss of his wives, the dead, and his philosophical ruminations on life, love, ageing and death. Louisiana is rightly the home of the blues, as we can see on Clete's reflections on the song, 'The House of the Rising Sun', a haunting depiction of bordello life, spiritual despair, and the exploitation of human beings, the anonymous fate that is the destiny of all those used for the convenience of others, a central theme and motif of the novel. This is a unforgettable series, and this is a marvellous addition. A superb read that I have no hesitation in recommending highly. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for an ARC.

Lately I have been disappointed in series that I have always liked reading. They seem to be losing their appeal or something. But not with this author and his fantastic series staring Dave Robicheaux.

What a writer James Lee Burke is. His descriptive wording brings the state of Louisiana alive in a way that slides into your skin like osmosis. You can smell the bayou, taste the food and feel the rain. The narrative itself makes you feels things you have never felt before and the storyline immerses you into the soul of Dave Robicheaux, tormented, afflicted. A hell of a story, a hell of a book.


Highly recommended this book will be published in January, 2019.

This is the 22nd book in the long established Dave Robicheaux series. For some reason I have only read a couple of the previous books but I felt able to understand and enjoy this book without knowing much or any of the back story.

The writing was rich and lyrical and immediately drew me in. The plot was complex but credible and the characters brilliantly drawn and I devoured the book over a mammoth two day sitting.

This is a novel for readers who appreciate quality writing and I now have another twenty or so books to catch up on given how greatly I enjoyed the one.

Highly recommended.

The New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke
The New Iberia Blues (Dave Robicheaux #22)
by James Lee Burke
M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review Nov 04, 2018 · edit
it was amazing

And yet again another masterpiece from Burke. A dark, complex and haunting tale of the beloved knight errant, Dave Robicheaux, our imperfect hero ever struggling with his sobriety and the memories of his wives. Even while pursuing his most recent investigation of the murder of Lucinda Arceneaux, he continues to be plagued by his past demons in visionary and auditory hallucinations .
In this riveting and twisted narrative we are treated to the presence of not only his adoptive daughter, Alafair but also his best friend , Clete Purcil , the violent, alcoholic, ex-police officer and private investigator .
Burke is one of a few writers who can make a run-on sentence a work of art. His prose is always lyrical if not poetic. His narrative theme as always uncovers the baser side of humanity.
An idealistic your woman, Lucinda Arceneaux, a minister's daughter is injected with a lethal dose of heroin and is posed on a cross with her ankles nailed to the wood and found bobbing in the water by Robicheaux. The twisted tale implicates many characters across the strata of society. The Golden Glove and Academy Award winning director and native son, Desmond Cormier and his entourage of Hollywood friends are certainly prime suspects. Notable and suspicious are Antoine Butterworth ... actor, supposed ex-mercenary, a man of dubious and sadistic past , as well as, Lou Wexler, a screenplay writer and producer of Desmond's next and anticipated greatest film. And, not to be forgotten are the Mob and other criminal elements who are apparently provide the financial backing.
The narrative is nicely complicated by the appearance of escaped Texan inmate, Hugo Tillinger and the deranged and somewhat ethical psychotic hitman, Chester "Smiley" Wimple. The murders pile-up during the investigation with un-explained and possible unrelated motives. Somehow Burke elegantly weaves together a tale of these varied forces into an intriguing tour de force with an unexpected but satisfying denouement. Thanks to Netgalley and Simon Schuster for supplying an Advance Reading Copy of this marvelous book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh Netgalley, thank you, thank you, thank you! What a privilege to get to read about the latest adventures of my most cherished murder-mystery protagonist, the tortured alcoholic detective Dave Robicheaux, by my all-time favorite author James Lee Burke, who is one of the literary giants of our time (anyone who’s got something uncharitable to say about calling writers of popular literature “literay giants,” stuff a sock in it). JLB’s Robicheaux series is not simply about murder mysteries; they are lyrical tales of—well, murder and mystery—but human suffering, misery, and joys, the last sometimes so hard to come by and easy to miss, but all of which make life worth living., because one cannot know joy without suffering. And of the South, where I’ve never been, but after reading JLB’s first two Robicheaux books, I only had to close my eyes to be in New Iberia to see the orange and red purples of the morning sky.... and, well, my trying to repeat JLB’s descriptions of the splendors of the beauty (what’s left of it) that Mother Nature has bestowed on Louisiana will only sound like blasphemy. AllI can say is, James Lee Burke has allowed me to visit Southern Louisiana while lying with my feet up in the air in my Minnesota parlor (yeah, ok, but I love that word, “parlor” (in a Victorian house) is a much cooler word than “living room.”)

I said Dave Robicheaux is a tortured soul, and if you’ve ever been one yourself, spending time with him is a form of therapy. Not because his mental anguish, sorrows, and anger (of which Dave—like almost all alcoholics—has plenty, but anyone thrice widowed is entitled) are a therapeutic read, but how he deals with his spiritual and mental torments. Whether by attending a meeting, going to Mass, introducing the jawbones of some obnoxious know-it-all to his fists, or by reciting the short form of the Serenity Prayer (FI—you can figure that one out...).

In his job as a New Iberia detective Dave Robicheaux comes not only comes across New Iberia and the area’s underbelly but also travels frequently, if somewhat uneasily, in the the world of the South’s rich and famous, often philantrophic, commonly criminal, elitist inhabitants, who not infrequently are tortured by soul-crushing insecurities that despite their designer duds and digs follow them like the stink of a decomposed swamp creature.

In this story, a young man, Desmond Cormier, whom Dave first met on the streets of New Orleans—then a boy small for his age, and bullied by his peers— has grown up to become an Academy and Golden Globe award nominated Hollywood director. When Dave pays an impromptu semi-social visit to Cormier—Dave and a young deputy are working close to the director’s Cypremort Point estate, which impresses Dave’s young colleague, and when they knock on the door they are invited in for dinner. While admiring the spectacular view across Vermilion and Weeks Bay via Cormier’s telescope, Dave sees a horrible image—the body of a young woman who’s been crucified is floating toward the shore—but when Cormier looks through the telescope, the director claims to see nothing, and neither does his (degenerate, oleaginous) actor friend, Antoine Butterworth. But Dave is’t buying it.

As the body count increases Dave finds himself investigating the Cormier’s Hollywood film crew and onhangers, the mob, and other delightfully sociopathic characters that only JLB can bring to fascinating life on a page. Dave’s daughter Alafair, scriptwriter and Stanford law grad, is working with Cormier, which complicates things, and of course Clete—sweet, funny, lovable, loyal Clete—with his usual “understated” and always effective elegance of an elephant in a china store, gets involved in the investigation with his best friend.

I once suggested to JLB, when the end of one book read worryingly like it was the end of the Bobbsey Twins—that he simply write about Dave and Clete a la The Simpsons style, in suspended animation. There was no need to count the years, just write endless stories, please!? But that was three or four books ago, and the Bobbsey Twins are still going strong!

You're in for an intelligent and edge-of-your-seat ride with this one. Lots of graphic violence (I skim that part) and intellectual soul searching by and to every character no one is all evil not all good--well maybe 1 or 2...yep I think some are born evil. With Louisiana as the backdrop with its gris-gris and magic the author writes one back of a thriller

Nobody writes like James Lee Burke. Lush, lyrical, poetic, and melancholy. All while telling a story we want to hear. Another spectacular addition to a spectacular series.

You know what you’re going to get when you pick up a JLB novel: the story will be gutsy and the language ornate; the plot will be convoluted and the thread of the piece sometimes hard to follow. But one thing you can be sure of is that if you have any appreciation at all of his gift then day you pick up his next book will be a good day – a very good day.

I’ve been following the adventures of his Louisiana based cop Dave Robicheaux for years and I’ve grown to love him, with all his foibles, and his side-kick Clete Purcell too. To me they’re the best pairing in crime fiction. Hell, they’re the best pairing in any brand of fiction. Dave is getting on in years now, but he still wears his detective’s badge with pride. He’s not wedded to rules in the same way some cops are but his heart is in the right place and his determination to track down the bad guys is unrivalled. Clete – his ex-partner from his NOPD days – doesn’t work to any rules at all, and has been described by the author as the nemesis of authority figures and those who sought power over others…a one-man demolition derby.

In this episode a young woman is found impaled on a cross, floating in the sea off Cypremort Point. The location is close to the sometime home of an old friend of Dave’s. Desmond Cormier is a local boy made good, a movie maker who made his fortune in Hollywood. He's returned to Southern Louisiana to make a film and his whole entourage is in town. Is Desmond or a man who is staying with him in any way linked to this strange, ritualistic death?

Dave’s daughter, Alafair, has gotten wrapped up in the film making endeavour and is spending time with one of the producers, much to Dave’s chagrin. Throw in an escaped prisoner running loose and the return of one of JLB’s legendary bad men, Smiley Wimple, and you have all the ingredients for a pretty wild romp. And as the body count mounts Dave, with Clete in tow, desperately tries to make sense of it all and track down the killer(s).

This book is replete with dreamlike encounters with characters from Dave’s past and throughout we get the the clear message that he is beginning to see the coming of the end of days as he ruminates and broods over the ruination of the land he loves, the ostentatious displays of wealth he sees around him and the general greed of today. Above all it’s his perception of the loss of Acadiana – the physical and cultural changes to the French Louisiana region his mother and father inhabited and which he was born into - that distresses him most.

As always with this writer, the prose is top drawer and the characterisation is brilliantly done. In my view he writes the best literary crime fiction out there; I enjoy his books more than any other author I can name. Long may he keep writing and turning out novels of this quality.

The New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke- The Twenty-Second Dave Robicheaux novel starts off like a visit from an old friend, then takes you down a dark forbidding road. Movie-making, and Hollywood low-lives once again become part of the story, and Dave must wade through all the blood, greed, and death to find the truth behind the silver screen. I‘ve read quite a few of this series and this one holds up with the best, but at times it gets too depressing, all the bad there is in the human heart.

I love the atmosphere of every James Lee Burke's book, but the ones set in the bayou are most enjoyable. That said, this was not my favorite of his books.

Burke brought back a character from his past, a local-boy-makes-good who returns to Louisiana to film a movie, bringing along a crew of unsavory types and -- possibly -- unleashing mayhem on New Iberia.

There are tendencies in all of Burke's fiction that mildly bug me, but were strong enough in this outing to over-ride my pleasure in the story. For one thing, his dialogue often seems set up just to introduce colorful language or pithy sayings, not to evoke a real conversation between two characters who are actually speaking to each other. It's kind of a non-sequitur call-and-response. That pattern was stronger than ever in this book.

Plus this book was long. Way long. I can't ever remember feeling this strongly about a Burke story -- it was like I was squirming in church waiting for a long-winded preacher to finish. Of course, I read to the end because -- James Lee Burke! But I had way too much time to think while reading it, which isn't usually the case.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to preview this book. I found the previous installment in this series a little disappointing, however, this one was fantastic. Strongly recommended.

Back we go to Bayou Teche in New Iberia, and join again with Dave Robicheaux, James Lee Burke's haunted, introspective protagonist. More than the usual number of bodies, it seems, but with the trademark literary, painterly descriptions of humid, late Autumn Louisiana. The usual cast of characters with some new ones, and regrettable losses, but alas no shrimp etouffee, more barbecue chicken than usual. I must admit to a partiality for Burke's characters, despite having to speed past some of the more grisly descriptions.

James Lee Burke does a wonderful job continuing his Robicheaux series. His writing is creative and his familiar characters make you feel like you are part of the book as you are reading it. This is a great Thriller and Mystery that will keep you biting your nails till you finish the last page.

James Lee Burke’s wildly entertaining Dave Robicheaux mysteries continue to offer thrills even after twenty-one previous entries. The writing is lush and poetic; the characters vividly imagined; and the dialogue is often muscular or funny or instructive, or, amazingly, a combination of all three and some. Burke manages to keep several threads going with THE NEW IBERIA BLUES, which is set as usual in the backwoods of Louisiana. Burke brings Louisiana to life with colorful imagery and inimitable sensory details. Where a lesser writer might say it was a balmy evening, Burke tells us “The wind had turned cold; yellow and black leaves were tumbling through the parking lot and floating in pools of rainwater greasy with oil.” The plot is important, of course, but the true joy in reading any of James Lee Burke’s novels lies in discovering just how vigorous language can become in the hands of a master. This latest entry starts off with Robicheaux and a young deputy he is mentoring knocking on the door of Desmond Cormier, a local boy turned Hollywood celebrity. Within a matter of moments, Robicheaux casually looks through a telescope at the back of Cormier’s property and discovers the body of a young woman who’s been nailed to a cross and left in the water like driftwood. Cormier and his mysterious actor friend Antoine Butterworth claim ignorance to the deadly scene happening right outside their backyard. Robicheaux knows better. From this jumping off point the story careens in a number of different directions as Robicheaux works to connect the dots. The ride to the truth is, of course, an uproarious adventure. I’m tempted to say this will prove to be one of the best crime novels of the year. But it is more apt to say it will be one of the best NOVELS of the year, period. Burke is a gem.

Upfront I have to admit, I am biased when it comes to the writing of James Lee Burke and his Dave Robicheaux series. Burke would have to really turn out a complete dud before I would rate his novels poorly.

With that, his newest Robicheaux novel, The New Iberia Blues, does not disappoint. As always, Burke's writing is like looking at paintings where an artist is skilled at bringing forth the most vibrant aspects of all colors while creating a perfectly assembled painting.

In The New Iberia Blues, Davie Robicheaux and a new deputy are investigating reports of a screaming woman in the bayou and while doing so, interview Louisiana-born, film director Desmond Cormier at his waterside estate. Cormier has returned home home to fashion his film masterpiece, bringing along his unctuous companion Antoine Butterworth. While speaking to the two, Robicheaux eyes a woman's body crucified to a wooden cross floating in the water. The story unfolds from this point into a violent mystery involving other murders that melds together the past, evil and ruminations on good, evil and the mortality of humans, particularly Dave Robicheaux.

Burke brings back all the familiar characters, as well as introducing new ones, including a love interest for the dour Robicheaux. Burke has also brought back Chester "Smiley" Wimple, the interesting, sociopathic, sometimes-for-hire-hitman-killer introduced in the previous Robicheaux novel.

How all these characters and plot strings pull together is for the reader to discover along the way.

While it is strongly suggested new readers to the Robicheaux series start with the first novel, one thing Burke does well is to offer concise re-introductions of characters and past events that allow the reader to stay current with his new writings.

The New Iberia Blues is another fine installment of the Robicheaux series that has Burke at his best. Dave’s on the case of a serial cult murderer and all the familiar characters are here. Having Smiley back is a great delight. Highly recommended. Burke does not miss a beat.

Another SENSATIONAL book,from JLB. He is fantastic, and each book is better and better. It’s vivid, vibrant and filled with all the crackle and verve of Louisiana and the bayou. It’s a time to rejoice when there is a new Burke novel, and the only unfortunate thing, is that they end. Bravo!

I don't think I will ever grow tired of the cast of characters James. Lee Burke has blessed us with in the Dave Robicheaux series. Throughout the years they have ingrained themselves in my heart. This latest chapter is yet another example of the authors almost magical storytelling. It does not get better than this. Period.

It is no secret that I'm a James Lee Burke fan. Not as big a fan as my friend Caroline who goes to the Dave Robichaeux Festival (named after Burke's main character) in New Iberia, Louisiana, every spring.

Burke (now in his 80s) lives on a ranch in Montana these days but I think his best work is about Louisiana--vicious criminals, corrupt cops and greedy developers, And the ever-present heat ("hotter than a $2 pistol") and then there's the humidity....

So...I'm glad Burke's new book, The New Iberia Blues, takes us back to Louisiana. I've enjoyed his Western books but missed the salt-marsh smell of the bayous, the tinkling of bottle trees, the coiling, cloying honeysuckle and the pelting of hard rain on a tin roof. (Full disclosure: I had a tin roof put on my porch--even though it hardly ever rains in Colorado).

He describes an accent "like someone twanging a bobbie pin." The coroner has "a physique like a stick figure and a haircut that resembles an inverted shoe brush." Sometimes you have to read things twice--to get the flavor and savor.

A quote that will stay with me: Robichaeux remembers his father saying, "Did you ever see a mob rush across town to do a good deed?" Indeed.

Oh, and there's always a great plot that centers around a grizzly murder (or two) that gritty, gusty, not-always-law-abiding, sometimes-cop (sometimes not) Dave Robichaeux, solves for a satisfying ending. This is not Burke's strongest book, but it is a very well-written page turner.