Reissued alongside first paperback publication of Last Car to Elysian Fields All James Lee Burke's paperbacks are now being reissued in Phoenix with striking new covers James Lee Burke has won the CWA/Macallan Gold Dagger once and the Edgar Award twice His novels have sold over half a million copies in paperback alone and alll his most recent novels have been bestsellers 'Still the greatest, bar none ... there's nothing currently on show to match, let alone better, Burke' LITERARY REVIEW 'James Lee Burke could not write badly if he tried...brilliant' EVENING STANDARD 'James Lee Burke is an exceptional writer; no qualification needed' THE OBSERVER
James Lee Burke is the author of nineteen previous novels, including eleven featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana and New Iberia, Louisiana.
Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux is back, as polite as ever, after sitting out Burke's Cimarron Rose (LJ 6/15/97). Accompanying Dave is his buddy Clete and a marvelous cast of charactersÄdowntrodden Cool Breeze Broussard, tortured Lila Terrebonne, slimy Harpo Scruggs, and photojournalist Megan Flynn, whose father, a labor organizer, was crucified on a barn wall 40 years ago. When Megan, still haunted by her father's unsolved murder, returns to New Iberia, she sets in motion a series of events that draws Dave into the dark, twisting relationships of these tortured characters, who are intertwined in a plot too convoluted to summarize but that bears all the hallmarks of a Burke mysteryÄbloody racial sins from the past mixed with violent, inbred kinships that haunt the present. Once again, with strong and graceful prose, Burke presents a tale as dark and rich as a cup of chicory coffee. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/98.]ÄRebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN
After stepping into stand-alone territory with Cimmaron Rose (1997), Burke choreographs a masterful return to the lush and brooding world of volatile New Iberia Sheriff's Deputy Dave Robicheaux (Cadillac Jukebox, 1996). This tale's strength lies in breathtaking, moody descriptive passages and incisive vignettes that set time, place and character. Burke's major themes, that the past is key to the present and that money buys power, pervade this mystery. The narrative, with more twists and bounces than a fish fighting a hook, rises from the violent, unsolved murder 40 years ago of union organizer Jack Flynn. The story encompasses at least eight disparate but interlocking subplots: the crooked money behind a movie directed by Flynn's son Cisco; the hold that ex-con Swede Boxleiter has on Cisco's photojournalist sister, Megan; Willie "Cool Breeze" Broussard's theft of a mob warehouse; his wife Ida's suicide 20 years ago; the shooting of two white brothers who raped a black woman; alcoholic Lisa Terrebonne's haunted childhood; her wealthy, arrogant father's ties to Harpo Scruggs, a vicious murderer; the post-Civil War killing by freed slaves of a Terrebonne servant. Hired assassins, snitches, lawmen and FBI agents weave through the novel. Dave and his partner Detective Helen Soileau find the connections, but Dave knows that in the ongoing class war, the worst criminals wield too much influence to pay for their crimes. In rich, dense prose, Burke conjures up bizarre, believable characters who inhabit vivid, spellbinding scenes in a multifaceted, engrossing plot. $300,000 ad/promo; author tour. (June)
James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist
whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed. *
Michael Connelly *
A gorgeous prose stylist. * Stephen King *
Richly deserves to be described now as one of the finest crime
writers America has ever produced. * Daily Mail *
The gentle giant of US crime writers, Burke always ensures that his
Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux grapples with hot topics as
much as with his own inner demons. * i newspaper *
There are not many crime writers about whom one might invoke the
name of Zola for comparison, but Burke is very much in that
territory. His stamping ground is the Gulf coast, and one of the
great strengths of his work has always been the atmospheric
background of New Orleans and the bayous. His big, baggy novels are
always about much more than the mechanics of the detective plot;
his real subject, like the French master, is the human condition,
seen in every situation of society. * Independent *
The king of Southern noir. * Daily Mirror *
His lyrical prose, his deep understanding of what makes people
behave as they do, and his control of plot and pace are masterly. *
Sunday Telegraph *
One of the finest American writers. * Guardian *
When it comes to literate, pungently characterised American crime
writing, James Lee Burke has few peers. * Daily Express *
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