I'm always thrilled when I see a new James Lee Burke book--especially one featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux in New Iberia, Louisiana. Burke's descriptions--of the Louisiana sky before a thunderstorm (like crushed plums); of the sound of rain on a tin roof; of the slow, brown bayou--are pure magic. This lyrically written story involves--as always--the complex and never-ending fight between What's good and and the truly evil. Also...the supernatural (not entirely unnatural in Marie Laveau country) and many flashbacks (by both Dave and his best friend, Clete Purcel) to vivid and painful memories of the Vietnam War. Dave's battle with alcoholism and depression are intrinsic parts of the story. So is his Catholicism. "If you give in to depression in the fading of the day, it can seep into soul and bind your heart and shut the light from your eyes. In those moments, I seek the company of animals and try to find joy in the transfiguration of the earth." He sits at the picnic table in his backyard, feeding his cats and his raccoon and is, for a moment, at peace. Thank you, James Lee Burke, for another page turner.

In the absence of light, there is darkness. And in that darkness grows the seeds of Evil harvested by those who are lured with empty promises. Deadly promises.

A Private Cathedral has bite. A rippin', tearin' bite. The cover alone begs for your attention. Dia de los Muertos. The Day of the Dead. But where will Death visit this time?

James Lee Burke has poured this one to the brim with characters sauteed in the very, very bad things that people do. We'll venture into times past to view historical significance. We'll set out feet down in the dirt of family feuds, gangster wars, dishonorable honorable men, sex trafficking, and the all-out cruelty visited from one upon another. Buckle up. James Lee Burke is gonna take us on a ride to Never Never Land.

Detective Dave Robicheaux has his soul hovering between sobriety and its ugly step-brother booze. He's working with his best friend, Clete Purcell, as private investigators in New Iberia. Both were cops in New Orleans in the once upon a time. Dave is hoping to be re-instated in the NOPD, but his current ex-boss, Carroll Le Blanc, has no love for him. In the meantime, Dave is working out of his house along Bayou Teche. It's Indian Summer. Unusual weather with unusual happenings.

But Robicheaux has hit the road heading for Huntsville Prison in Texas. He's about to come eye-to-eye with the soon to be released Marcel La Forchette. La Forchette grew up along Bayou Teche and had worked for the Balangie family. Dave has info that the notoriously criminal Balangie and Shondell families have been dabbling in sex trafficking that hovers around the seventeen year old, Isolde Balangie. Ironically, she and young Johnny Shondell sing together in a popular duo. La Forchette claims to know nothing. Dave knows otherwise.

No one sets up a scene like Burke. The storyline is intense in itself, but with Burke behind the wheel we will experience the depth and breadth of human nature like no other writer. But we're dealing with something well beyond VooDoo and spiritual potions here. Burke brings in a touch of the unexplainable and settles upon a depth charger of the supernatural. Only in the hands of the superb James Lee Burke will we lean in completely to an almost impossible adversary for Dave and Clete. It's Boo-yah time in the Bayou. Bravo to the eerie touch of James Lee Burke.

I received a copy of A Private Cathedral through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon & Schuster and to the talented James Lee BUrke for the opportunity.

James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series has always included a certain level of mysticism, whether Louisiana Voodoo or medieval arcane, and though he constantly questions the source of his faith, Robicheaux's deeply religious beliefs. A flawed man, Robicheaux is a recovering alcoholic with a paradoxical anger problem, he is still a southern gentleman who will tip his hat, address all women by "miss", and beat the crap out of anyone showing disrespect to a female. He's an intuitive detective with a vast knowledge of history, religion, the arts, and his beloved south, specifically Louisiana. He's a renaissance man with a badge. Burke's lush and evocative writing makes the stories, though always dark and intense, that much more complex.

But...

I don't know long it took me to figure out this book takes place in the past, sometime after Bootsie's death but before his marriage to Molly, with Alafair still in college, and Tripod (bless his heart) is still alive. I was confused by the references to his two dead wives (weren't there 3?) and the use of cell phones. And it took me even longer to recognize that as the book was building in intensity so was the weather, which finally gave me a timeframe: right before Hurricane Katrina. That was a minor quibble on my part.

However...

I was never sure what this book was about. It had the usual ultra-rich, old money families, the usual out of control violence, the usual alcoholic longings and dry drunk episodes, the usual Clete trying to destroy himself and take the world with him, and the usual (almost overdone) colloquialisms-both southern and tough guy detective-type. In A Private Cathedral, it seems like Dave is trying to save a teenaged girl who has been sold from her wealthy family to a rich racist pedophile, and no one cares but Dave. There's a time-traveling reptilian assassin with superhuman powers (no joke). Dave is disappointingly dimwitted and absurdly foolish when it comes to the women he chooses to sleep with this time (I actually yelled, "You moron!"). Somehow, despite his all-encompassing alcoholic pastime, Clete can still afford two offices, one in the French Quarter. Dave revisits a lot of his childhood and past relationships and possible relatives and remains ageless (I think he's in his 60's in this one). But I'm still not sure what the book was about.

Yeah, I appreciate Burke's beautiful writing and deep philosophical ponderings, and I absolutely love Dave, I can never get enough of Clete, but I found myself drifting a few times. Yeah, I caught the time traveling assassin/travel back in Dave's life thing. And, yeah, I definitely know who that "rich-boy gutter rat with ties to the Russian mafia" is. But no amount of Dr. Pepper with shaved ice and cherries, or Po' Boy shrimp sandwiches, or Four O'clocks, Wisteria or Live Oaks dripping with Spanish moss could keep me focused. I felt let down by his last novel, New Iberia Blues, and was sure it was Burke's swan song, but this was just a head scratcher for me.

Will I read the next book? I have an affinity towards flawed recovering alcoholics who try to flush a guy's head down the toilet while wooing the man's wife, so yes, of course I will.

(A big thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of A Private Cathedral in exchange for a fair review.)

James Lee Burke has outdone himself with this vivid portrayal of evil and mayhem. We're used to visions and ghosts on the Teche Bayou, but there is something chilling and all too real in the mist.

A tour de force. Burke’s writing washes over you like a humid day when clothes stick to your sweat and you accumulate grime as you go about your life. This book is a departure from the usual, infused with magic and evil. A time traveling revelator mixes dual intentions of torture and redemption. Angels sneak in. People are killed in great numbers, yet bodies vanish and accountability fails. In the end, a form of normalcy returns with no explanations given. Everyone’s motivations are suspect. Everything unreal is real. And survival relies heavily on chance opportunities. Absorbing and intense.

A Private Cathedral is James Lee Burke’s fortieth book, and I am pretty sure my husband had read them all up til now. I had read one or two, and I can’t remember which ones, which tells you something. I had another chance thanks to Simon & Schuster providing me with a copy of A Private Cathedral in exchange for an honest review.

Full disclosure right up front: I can’t say I read all of this one. I TRIED. I really did. And I’m going to play the virus card, because everyone’s lives have been totally tossed around by the current pandemic…and don’t even get me started on the incompetent handling of this in the U.S. But that should really provide adequate time to read, even things we might not love, right?

Like I said, I tried. This book features Dave Robicheaux and his longtime partner Clete Purcell, and includes New Iberia, sex trafficking, rock and roll, and PTSD. Sounds like something for everyone…and, like I said, I TRIED. And felt like I failed at a test or something, until my husband also couldn’t get through it (and, as noted above, he LOVES James Lee Burke)!

The publisher’s blurb describes this book as “mixing crime, romance, mythology, horror, and science fiction.” That explains it, neither of us is a fan of either horror or sci-fi and a little mythology goes a long way. I can take or leave (good) romance and we both love crime stories…but one out of five isn’t enough! I considered using that formula for my rating, giving it one star…but I’m giving it two because it could be at least partly due to the state of the world that I couldn’t handle this one. (Looks like many fans of Burke loved it)

This novel is odd both as a tale and my reaction to it. If I were to start recalling details about A Private Cathedral, they’d all be negative comments. I’ll go into a few in a bit, but the overarching value of a novel to me is entertainment and in some cases, education. The latter is, by the nature of this book, a supernatural-horror thriller, out the window but after pushing through the first 20% or so, I did grow intrigued and involved up until the final act which turned out to be a tedious cliché.

I’ll start there and throughout, try not to give any spoilers. The final act takes place on private steel yacht we’re told is 500 feet long. The battleship Missouri is only 888 feet long so this is one honker of a yacht. The silliness of that took me right out of the story. I figured the final act may as well have taken place in a private flying saucer from Mars and it’d not take me that much out of things as that did.

A good deal of the book is a first-person narrative which in and of itself, gives a bit of a spoiler as to how some things come out. The driving force of the book is the narrator/protagonist, Dave, forcing himself into a situation where he’s not just uninvited, but told to keep out. Dave’s a fired policeman but soon rather mysteriously gets back on the public payroll where he does no police work but instead continues to pursue the situation he’s been told by the principals to stay away from. He still gets paid – taxpayers take note.

He’s joined by his great buddy Clete. Both of these guys marinate in the bitter memories of superannuated Vietnam vets who’ll never let you forget they were there. Clete’s specialty is the sucker punch. He’s a bruiser all right using a technique that engages someone in a mild conversation and then without warning, hits them hard enough to stun. Thus getting his clueless opponent helpless he stomps them inflicting grievous bodily harm while they’re lying on the ground. Dave’s clearly a stand-in for the author. You can tell these characters because they always have hot babes swarming over them demanding sex. Clete may be another stand-in making for a bit of a Jekyll-Hyde composite.

Then into the mix, we have more stand-ins and other cast members. Next up is a stand-in for the millions of Jews killed in German concentration camps, some Nazis, the world’s stupidest hitman, a self-pitying masochistic priest, two teens who are stand-ins for characters in a Wagnerian opera and who are a hit duo playing zydeco music in Mexico. Oh, did I mention the sorrowful lizard?

I’m not making any of this up nor have I exhausted the list of players great and small. I’ve left out a few major ones too. Of all the characters, the only sympathetic ones with speaking parts are a waitress and a stand-in who plays a major role but doesn’t really exist on this mortal plane. I have to give an honorable mention to a decent guy, a short-order cook, who has a bad experience not of his making or deserving.

If you think the cast is a bit cattywampus, don’t get me started on the disjointed often incoherent plot. So I’ll show some self-restraint to save the v-pages and demur. Yet, despite all this, as I opened with, I did grow utterly involved in the plot and eagerly read this to the end which wraps up with even less sense than the rest of the book.

In sum, if you wish to read a book that combines horror played out against a slightly historical background offered up with a light sprinkling of modern US leftist views, have at this one. I enjoyed the heck out of it and have no idea why I did.

A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke – 5 Stars
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9781982151683

As in all of the books in the Dave Robicheaux series, there is violent action, vivid descriptions of places and people, and narrative of the thoughts in Dave’s head. There is a love story and insight into the evils of mankind. It is the introduction of Gideon, a time-traveling mystical presence, which makes this story unique. Louisiana is special in its history and culture, so a being from the 16th century seems possible. After all, in the past, Dave has met ghosts of confederate soldiers.

Dave and Clete have lived through personal tragedy and witnessed the dark side of life. Once again, they struggle to right wrongs and defend those that the world has treated cruelly.

I have been reading the books in the Dave Robicheaux series for years and have enjoyed each of them. This is another interesting and intelligent story.

Reviewer: Nancy

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Hard to find fault with anything James Lee Burke write. I admit that it is probably easier for me to understand what is going on in Dave Robicheaux's universe having lived in New Iberia, Louisiana for a number of years. I miss it greatly. Dave, and his partner, Clete, are tormented souls living on the fine line between doing what is right and insanity. Both have problems dealing with reality, even if they knbow what that is. Burke spends a good deal of ink telling about what is going on in Dave's head but it can get wordy. An understanding of cajun history is skillfully woven into the story and it ties the whole thing together.

There have been many James Lee Burke books that stretch the imagination, and reality, to the outer limits. This one manages to exceed all previous entries. More evil, New Iberia super wealthy residents, more random violence from Clete and Dave, and a new mystical spirit tops it all off. Truly unusual stuff.

Mysteries are my favorite genre, and James Lee Burke just gets better and better. These Louisiana tales are as relevant and authentic as it gets. Add a Kaiser Sosze type character called a revelator to the mix and you have an unnerving force of vengeance against child tracking and lifetime criminals that exist on the margins of Louisiana society.

A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burk brings the reader to the edge of truth and imaginations down in south Louisana. Each time I read a new Dave Robicheaux Novel I think, "That is the best one yet!" I always look forward to reading these books. Is it because Dave is an honest but troubled soul, or because each novel has some new scene which could have come from the headlines of a Louisiana newspaper. I lived in Eunice and Thibodeaux/Thibodaux for years as a child and the unexplainable seemed to be normal.
In A Private Cathedral, Dave and Clete are concerned about Isolde Balangie, a young teenager who approached Dave to tell him she was being delivered to her family's rival, Mark Shondell as if she were chattel. They know from the four-hundred-year-old hatred between the Balangie's and Shondell's that Isolde is not going of her own choice. She is in love with Johnny Shondell and they had hoped to record their latest duets together.
As Dave and Clete investigate further into the disappearance of Isolde, they are each confronted by unexplainable paranormal events. An unworldly man appears to them at different times and they can not decide if Gideon is a man out of their time or a product of them being drugged with LSD.
I won't post spoilers, but there are so many interesting characters and scenes in this book! I always enjoy highlighting Dave's reasoning and philosophies of life he has learned from hard experiences. He has memories that haunt him, but he made the best choices he could for the situation. A Private Cathedral must be added to a Dave Robicheaux book collection. *Violence/Language
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My literary crush, found years ago, is a character named Dave Robicheaux, student of history, (police) officer and a gentleman, as well as a
“Noble Mon” in the words of his best friend Crete Purcel. This new book is a departure for James Lee Burke in that it deals largely in the super natural although that did appear in a smaller way in a previous book. As is always the case, this author’s facility with words is beautiful even when describing the ugliest situations and most brutal people. If I were to label this new novel by one of my favorite writers, I would call it a very dark fable fit for this time. Wonder who the rich kid gutter rat could be. I am grateful to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy.

James Lee Burke is a master of the evocative phrase, the atmospheric description, and the brooding, introspective protagonist. We continue to consume these Dave Robicheaux novels because we expect these things.

A Private Cathedral is no different; it is exactly what we expect it to be. Our regulars are here: Dave, Clete, Helen Soileau, and of course Victor's Cafeteria and the Teche Motel. In this novel, Dave and Clete are entangled with a mysterious time traveling "revelator" who seeks forgiveness; there are the requisite love trysts, shady characters, and tight, suspenseful climax.

If I have any complaint at all with this novel it is that it is predictable and even sometimes repetitive. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I've read all of the Robicheaux novels, some several times, but I sometimes felt that certain scenes or descriptions were lifted right from previous books. Even if they were, I don't care; this is why I read Burke's books without question. These passages are why we keep coming back.

And so, I do recommend this book, especially for those who love Burke and Dave Robicheaux.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wow! Reading Burke is almost an out-of-worldly experience. His amazing talents take the reader out of their small and narrow worlds and bring them into Dave Robicheaux’s real and metaphysical world of good and evil. Normally one would expect a police procedural set in New Iberia, a Louisiana hotspot located near New Orleans. Actually you are taken into Dave’s world some of which is so beyond the realm of any procedural that only talents like Burke’s could make it believable or relatable. I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to learn about and participate in this world. Thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for an ARC for an honest review.

And we're off again ... down to Bayou Teche, with wilder weather than usual, the oysters, crab and shrimp etouffee, the music always the music. But, wait.


Two things set the latest Dave Robicheaux novel apart from others in the series. One, there is far more fantasy than previously encountered. Dave and his Bobsey Twin Clete find themselves more up to their necks in not only their personal demons, but time travelers and shapeshifters who muddy the waters of the story's framework which involves the war between two crime families who harbor years' old feuds. Such crimes as human trafficking, child porn, enslavement through the use of LSD and China white, and the prevalence of cell phones set the time in the present, but there is constant mention of this having taken place many years in the past, which casts a surreal cloak over the proceedings.

What IS constant are Dave's thoughts about the inherent nature of the proponents of evil and the "legacy (that is) always there, their exponents and justifiers at the ready, the banner of heaven or nation flapping above their heads." Which brings me to the second element that makes this different from other James Lee Burke Robicheaux novels: this is his take on the current state of the affairs of state. That is all I'm going to say, since revealing any more would be a spoiler.

Nobody can stop themselves from being immediately immersed into the action of the twenty-third entry into the critically acclaimed Dave Robicheaux series from the pen of multi-award winning James Lee Burke. The often fired detective finds himself re-instated, only to become embroiled in the centuries long feud between Louisana's
two most notorious gangland families ... the malignant Shondell and Balangie families. Two of the youngest scions of the family ... Johnny Shondell and Isolde Balangie find themselves entwined in a mutual infatuation between themselves and rock and roll music. They create a sound reminiscent of "Swamp Pop" ... the New Orleans sound of old.. Johnny indeed has magnetisms on stage with his voice and guitar, accompanied by the golden tones of Isolde. This apparent idyllic situation seems doomed when Robicheaux learns that the seventeen year-old Isolde is imminently destined to be "given" to Johnny's slime ball Uncle Mark (Shondell) as an offering for peace between the families. No way can Robicheaux avoid jumping into the fray to investigate and hopefully stop this injustice .... naturally drawing into the situation his best friend, the "human wrecking ball" and "avenging angel" - Clete Purcel. If nothing else but colorful ... Clete lives to "blow up someone's shit" .... although a disgraced cop, he is a lone soul sowing destruction and chaos everywhere he goes. Complicating Dave and Clete's imbroglio involving the two warring families is the specter of an apparently hired assassin, Gideon Richetti. Gideon is referred by many as a "revelator" and possesses unfathomable skills that raise unworldly possibilities. All the while Dave has to contend with his inner torments to maintain his sobriety and fend off the "snakes" in his head regarding apparitions from his Vietnam days.
No other writer than Burke can put such electricity into his prose, or paint such an ethereal image while describing ongoing events. Get swept along the journey into his Cajun culture, and be sucked into the cadence of his poetic words brimming with local culture significance, And, at the same time, devolve into a treatise of the difference between evil and cruelty. James Lee Burke weaves a compelling and thrilling adventure concocted in an amazing brew of crime, romance, horror and a dollop of speculative fiction. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing an electronic uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review. ( at readersremains.com )

James Lee Burke is one of the best authors in this genre. The man is a wordsmith. It always takes me a few pages to get into the rhythm of Burke’s story and then it’s off the races.

Dave and Clete (the Bobbsey Twins from homicide) have went and gotten themselves in the middle of two powerful families fighting for dominance. I always find Dave’s internal dialogue challenging in a good way. He’s a character with flaws that you can relate to, while also causing the reader to pause and self reflect. The story is replete with developed characters that you either love or hate. The way the author describes geographical locations makes you feel like you are standing there in the story sharing the experiences of the characters. Dave’s dry witty banter with his friends and foes make this series a joy ride. The mix of crime and mythology in this installment of the Robicheaux series comes together well and keeps the reader fully engaged the whole time. It’s hard to believe that after 40 books James Lee Burke is still writing the best books on the market.

JLB is one of the greatest writers working today, and his books have given me so much joy, that Dave Robichaud and Cleve feel like friends. This latest installment was so sumptuous, so surreal and beautiful, and as always, the writing glows, particularly when writing about human frailty and alcoholism, and the plot was suspenseful and as always, the fight between good and evil.

Happy to scream about this latest novel, and can’t wait for the next!!

Intense and dark. Long and wordy, philosophical and sad. Few characters are likable, many are a cruel. Interesting yet tiring read. As you can tell from my description I don't know what to make of it. Read for yourself and decide what you believe in.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc