On this page

This page lists novels and short story collections by James Lee Burke.

Books about James Lee Burke and his work are also included.

Cover images are, when possible, of the US first edition and a more recent digital or paperback edition.

By James Lee Burke
- novels and story collections

About James Lee Burke
- biographical / critical

Half of Paradise

James Lee Burke

1965

"Toussaint Boudreaux, a black docker in New Orleans, puts up with his co-workers' racism because he has to, and moonlights as a prize-fighter in the hope of a better life - but the only break he gets lands him in penal servitude. J.P. Winfield, a hick with a gift for twelve-string guitar, finds his break into showbiz leads to the flipside of the American dream. Avery Broussard, descendant of an aristocratic French family, runs whiskey after what remains of his land is repossessed... The interlocking stories of these three men are an elegy to the realities of life in 1950s Louisiana, their destinies fixed by the circumstances of their birth and time. Yet each carries the hope of redemption."

To The Bright and Shining Sun

James Lee Burke

1970

"For generations, Perry James' family has lived under the shadow of the Cumberland range and worked in the coal mines. Staunch union supporters, Perry's grandfather and father have known hard times and after Perry helps to sabotage the mine to keep the 'scabs' out, things look bleaker than ever. To escape from the cycle of poverty, Perry signs up with the Jobs Corps, where they begin to teach him how to read and write, as well as train him in a skilled trade. But Perry is torn between family honour and the lure of seedy beer joints where he can drink and escape the dark and atavistic heritage of the Cumberland Mountains."

Lay Down My Sword and Shield

James Lee Burke

1971

A Hackberry Holland novel.

"Hack Holland is a product of the South, both old and new. Hard-drinking ex-POW and wealthy, progressive Democrat, he stands in the long shadow cast by his ancestors. When Holland's candidacy for a congressional seat brings him increasingly into conflict with those around him, his almost unwitting involvement with a violent civil rights conflict forces him to reassess his future - and his past."

Two for Texas

James Lee Burke

1982

"Son Holland arrived in the Louisiana penal camp determined not to spend the rest of his days suffering in a chain gang - but he didn't imagine for one minute that in order to escape he would need to kill a man. Terrified for his life, he flees the state across the river to Texas, taking with him a beautiful Indian squaw and a fellow prisoner. And as they make their way towards General Houston's infamous Texas Rangers they find themselves in the midst of the final tragic battle for the Alamo."

The Convict

James Lee Burke

1985

A short story collection.

"From New Orleans to Dallas, with excursions further afield in Korea and Vietnam, James Lee Burke's characters live out lives of laughter and tragedy, mystery and intrigue, finding the memorable in the commonplace and bringing vividly to life the heat and dust of Southern life."The contents are:

• Uncle Sidney and the Mexicans
• Losses
• The Pilot
• Taking a Second Look
• Hack
• We Build Churches, Inc.
• When It’s Decoration Day
• Lower Me Down with a Golden Chain
• The Convict

The Lost Get-Back Boogie

James Lee Burke

1986

"Trouble is brewing and Frank Riordan is the only one willing to stop it. As he wages a one-man campaign to shut down the local pulp mill that is polluting the air and devastating the environment, tensions are growing - and so is the level of power he's up against. It is becoming more than Frank can handle. The man who can help already has troubles of his own. Iry Paret is trying put the past behind him, having served time for accidentally killing a man. He heads west to make a fresh start in Montana on Frank's ranch. But he hadn't expected to fall in love with the estranged wife of Frank's son, a strong, dynamic and beautiful woman who will test the limits of Iry's loyalty to his friends."

The Neon Rain

James Lee Burke

1987

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Johnny Massina, a convicted murderer bound for the electric chair, has warned Dave Robicheaux that he's on somebody's hit list, and now the homicide detective is trying to discover just who that is before he ends up dead. Meanwhile he has taken on the murder investigation of a young black girl found dead in the Bayou Swamp - a case no one seems keen for him to investigate. But Robicheaux persists and uncovers a web of corruption that some would kill to protect, leading him to a terrifying confrontation with the one horror he fears most of all."

Heaven's Prisoners

James Lee Burke

1988

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Dave Robicheaux is trying to put a life of violence and crime behind him, leaving homicide to run a boat-rental business in Louisiana's bayou country. But one day while fishing in the Gulf with his wife Annie, he witnesses an event that will change his life forever. A small two-engine plane suddenly crashes into the sea and Robicheaux dives down to the wreckage to find four bodies and one survivor; a little girl miraculously trapped in a pocket of air. When the authorities insist only three bodies were recovered from the plane, Robicheaux decides to investigate the mystery of the missing man."

Black Cherry Blues

James Lee Burke

1989

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Personal tragedy has left Dave Robicheaux close to the edge. Battling against his old addiction to alcohol and haunted nightly by vivid dreams and visitations, Dave finds his only tranquillity at home with his young ward Alafair. But even this fragile peace is shattered by the arrival of Dixie Lee Pugh who brings with him a brutal trail of murder and violence. Robicheaux reluctantly agrees to help out his old friend but becomes more involved than he bargained for when he finds himself suspect Number One in the series of bloody killings. Forced to leave his home, Robicheaux's precarious existence reaches breaking point when Alafair's life is threatened."

A Morning for Flamingos

James Lee Burke

1990

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"A routine assignment transporting two death-row prisoners to their executions goes fatally wrong, leaving Dave Robicheaux brutally wounded and his partner dead. Obsessed with revenge, Dave is persuaded by the DEA to go undercover into the torrid sleepy depths of New Orleans, a volatile world of Mafia drug-running and Cajun voodoo magic. He becomes irrevocably snarled in the nightmarish web surrounding Mafia don Tony Cardo and must put himself against his own worst fears in order to survive."

A Stained White Radiance

James Lee Burke

1992

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"A bullet shot through the window of Weldon Sonnier's house propels Dave Robicheaux back into the lives of a family he's not sure he wants to be reacquainted with ... Weldon Sonnier's CIA-influenced past has led to dangerous connections and commitments, including debts to local mob boss Joey 'Meatballs' Gouza. As Weldon puts himself in the line of fire, Lyle Sonnier, television evangelist and faith healer, reveals to Dave a violent family history that intersects menacingly with Dave's own. But overshadowing the manoeuvres of Gouza's gang is the spectre of racial politics, and it is former Klansman Bobby Earl who will prove to be Dave Robicheaux's most elusive enemy."

In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead

James Lee Burke

1993

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Hunting a sadistic killer who targets young prostitutes, Detective Dave Robicheaux has no mind to be sidetracked into persuading ex-schoolmate mobster Julie 'Baby Feet' Balboni to leave town. And it turns out that Balboni is the money behind a Civil War movie that's bringing in good business. But then the film crew stumble on a skeleton out in the bayou, and the links between a thirty-year-old lynching, a Civil War general, Balboni and the serial killer lead Dave into treacherous waters, with only a handful of unexpected allies to help him protect his own."

Dixie City Jam

James Lee Burke

1994

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"When a Nazi submarine is discovered lying in sixty feet of water off the Louisiana coast some troubled ghosts are ready to be released. A local businessman is offering Detective Dave Robicheaux big money to bring the wreck to the surface, but he is not the only one after the submarine and its mysterious cargo. Neo-Nazis are on the march in New Orleans, a new spirit of hatred is abroad, and its terrifying embodiment, an icy psychopath called Will Buchalter, is stalking Robicheaux's wife. Robicheaux is about to find out how deep the new current of evil runs - and just how far the crazed Buchalter will go to get his hands on the Nazis' legacy."

Burning Angel

James Lee Burke

1995

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Sonny Boy Marsallas, a New Orleans street hustler, entrusts Detective Dave Robicheaux with a mysterious notebook, kicking off a series of violent incidents and raising questions that need answers, and fast... What did Sonny's girlfriend know that got her murdered? Why is Sonny known as Red Angel by Central American guerrillas? And what do the Mafia want with a desolate stretch of New Iberia? This time Sonny Boy may have pushed his luck with the Giacano family one deal too far."

Cadillac Jukebox

James Lee Burke

1996

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"The call from ex-Klansman Aaron Crown couldn't have been more unexpected. Sentenced to forty years for the decades-old shooting of a civil rights activist, Crown should have been out of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, for good. Election candidate Buford LaRose wants Detective Dave Robicheaux to ignore Aaron's calls, promising Robicheaux a lucrative job when he makes governor. Worse still, Buford's wife, Karyn, seems unhealthily interested in getting very close to Robicheaux - just like old times . . . The LaRoses, each for their own reasons, want Crown's case buried."

Cimarron Rose

James Lee Burke

1997

A Billy Bob Holland novel.

"Lucas Smothers, nineteen and from the wrong end of town, has been arrested for the rape and murder of a local girl. His lawyer Billy Bob Holland is convinced of Lucas's innocence but proving it means unearthing the truth from a seething mass of deceit and corruption. A corruption endemic in the way it can be only in a gossipy small town where everybody knows everybody else's business. Billy Bob's relationship with Lucas's family is not an easy one - years back he was a close friend of Mrs Smothers, too close according to her husband Vernon. And when Lucas overhears gruesome tales of serial murder from a neighbouring cell in the local lock-up, the waters are muddied even further and Lucas himself looks like a candidate for an untimely death."

Sunset Limited

James Lee Burke

1998

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Megan and Cisco Flynn are back in town. Nobody had ever been caught for the Klan murder of their father, Jack, and Detective Dave Robicheaux knows that trouble cannot be far behind. Particularly when the Flynns get mixed up with the case of a small-time hustler named Cool Breeze Broussard. As the Flynns find themselves deeper and deeper in trouble, Robicheaux is trying to keep Cool Breeze alive. Something ties Breeze to the Flynns, and all three of them to local plantation magnate Archer Terrebonne. Something long past is poisoning all their lives, bringing death in its wake...."

Heartwood

James Lee Burke

1998

A Billy Bob Holland novel.

"Deaf Smith, Texas, a small town with small town problems until the local boy made good Earl Deitrich decides that he isn't prepared to share his kind of good fortune with anybody else. Wilbur Pickett is a retired rodeo rider with big dreams. Dreams of a secure future for himself and his native American wife, a blind woman who sees more than a blind woman should thanks to her ancient heritage. When Wilbur happens upon a parcel of land with black gold waiting for the taking he also happens on Deitrich and a whole bunch of violent problems. Only lawyer Billy Bob Holland is prepared to stand up for Wilbur, to stand against the juggernaut that is Deitrich and his corrupting influence."

Purple Cane Road

James Lee Burke

2000

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"When Detective Dave Robicheaux discovers disturbing secrets from his mother's past, he embarks on a journey through a murky world of vice, politics and murder. Robicheaux has been told that his mother, Mae, was a hooker and ended her life drowned in a mud puddle by two cops working for the Mob. As Robichaeux and his partner hunt for the killers, they hook up with a door-to-door salesman turned state governor, a psychotic hit-man, and the owner of the mansion at Purple Cane Road - who knows rather too much about Robichaeux's wife . .."

Bitterroot

James Lee Burke

2001

A Billy Bob Holland novel.

"When Billy Bob Holland visits his old friend Doc Voss, he finds himself caught up in a horrific tragedy. Doc's daughter has been brutally attacked by bikers, and the ringleader, Lamar Ellison, walks free when the DNA samples 'get lost'. Then Ellison is burned alive and Doc is arrested. So much for Billy Bob's vacation - Doc needs a lawyer, and fast. And that's not all. Newly released killer Wyatt Dixon has tracked Billy Bob to Montana, bent on avenging the death of his sister for which he holds Billy Bob responsible. And Wyatt is only one thread of a tangled web of evil that includes neo-Nazi militias, gold miners who tip cyanide into the rivers, a paedophile ring, and the Mob. As the corpses of the guilty and innocent pile up, Billy Bob stands alone."

Jolie Blon's Bounce

James Lee Burke

2002

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Three men are present when Amanda Boudreau is raped and murdered, and small-time hustler Tee Bobby Hulin's prints are found at the crime scene. Dave Robicheaux reckons he's innocent, and Tee Bobby pleads so, then attempts suicide in his holding cell. Why? Tee Bobby is released on bail and soon after there is a second murder. When lawyer Perry LaSalle takes on the defence of Tee Bobby, Dave knows his motives are fuelled by guilt. For Tee Bobby's grandmother was seduced by Perry's grandfather, and Amanda Boudreau's death is related to events that happened long before Tee Bobby was born."

White Doves at Morning

James Lee Burke

2002

"Set mainly in Louisiana during the years 1861-1868, this passionate novel of men, women and war tells the story of the author's ancestor, Confederate soldier Willie Burke, during the American Civil War. A classic Burke hero, Willie is soon in conflict with his superiors. The characters who people these pages, many of them based on real historical figures, are as memorable as any Burke has created. Mulatto, Flower Jamison, victim of terrible abuse who is determined to better herself; Abigail Dowling, whose Unionist sympathies put her in constant danger; Colonel Ira Jamison, rotten to his core yet who would rise from a cesspit smelling of roses."

Last Car to Elysian Fields

James Lee Burke

2003

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"It is a rainy late-summer's night in New Orleans. Detective Dave Robicheaux is about to confront the man who may have savagely assaulted his friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, a Catholic priest who's always at the centre of controversy. But things are never as they seem and soon Robicheaux is back in New Iberia, probing a car crash that killed three teenage girls. A grief-crazed father and a maniacal, complex assassin are just a few of the characters Robicheaux meets as he is drawn deeper into a web of sordid secrets and escalating violence."

In the Moon of Red Ponies

James Lee Burke

2004

A Billy Bob Holland novel.

"Wyatt Dixon, rodeo cowboy and 'the most dangerous, depraved, twisted and unpredictable human I ever knew' is certainly not one of Billy Bob Holland's favourite people. Sentenced to sixty years in jail for murder, Dixon is out after only a year, due to the DA's failure to disclose a piece of information. He swears he's a changed man and needs Billy Bob's help, but how can Billy Bob believe the man who tortured his wife? And then there's Johnny American Horse, who has been caught carrying a gun. He says he needs it for protection; in a dream he saw two men coming for him and it isn't long before his prediction proves him right."

Crusader's Cross

James Lee Burke

2005

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"In the summer of 1958, Dave Robicheaux and his half-brother Jimmie are just out of high school. Jimmie and Dave get work with an oil company, laying out rubber cables in the bays and mosquito-infested swamps all along the Louisiana-Texas coastline. But on the Fourth of July, change approaches in the form of Ida Durbin, a sweet-faced young woman with a lovely voice and a mandolin. Jimmie falls instantly in love with her. But Ida's not free to love - she's a prostitute, in hock to a brutal man called Kale. Jimmie agrees to meet Ida at the bus depot, ready for the road to Mexico. But Ida never shows. That was many years ago. Now, an older, well-worn Dave walks into Baptist Hospital to visit a man called Troy Bordelon, who wants to free himself of a dark secret before he dies. A bully and a sadist, he has a lot to confess to - but he chooses to talk about a young girl, a prostitute who he glimpsed briefly as a kid, bloodied and beaten, tied to a chair in his uncle's house."

Pegasus Descending

James Lee Burke

2006

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Dave Robicheaux left his drinking days behind him many years ago, but he still feels guilt over a tragic event he wasn't sober enough to prevent. Dallas Klein, a gambling addict and bar buddy of Dave's when Dave was posted to Miami PD, was killed in an armed robbery he'd been forced to engineer. Two decades later, several incidents in Dave's life in Iberia Parish link to those involved. First he meets Dallas' daughter, Trish, who keeps odd company and is blackballed by the local casinos. Then the supposed suicide of a young girl appears to be connected to the man Dallas owed money to back in the Miami days. Dave's inability to let things alone gets him involved with two very powerful criminals, both wanting to protect their sons from the trouble they court, and both with the attitude of the privileged and white. When a young black drug dealer gets on the wrong side of the boys, tensions run high and there are more needless deaths - causing Dave to come to blows with the FBI, the DA's office and a thug who has little regard for any life but his own."

The Tin Roof Blowdown

James Lee Burke

2007

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"New Orleans is awash with corpses after Hurricane Katrina unleashes its awesome power. In a city patrolled only by looters, all law and order gone, the survivors wait in trees or on rooftops for help that never comes. In a landscape transformed into a violent wasteland, Dave Robicheaux must investigate the shooting of two looters and find out why some very dangerous people are hunting a third. Is it because they unwittingly ransacked the house of a notorious mob boss? Or did a chance encounter with the father of a raped girl seal their fate? As Robicheaux starts to uncover a ruthless tale of greed, torture and murder, his own family comes under threat from a sinister psychopath, and the devastated city provides the perfect stage for a final confrontation between good and evil."

Jesus Out to Sea

James Lee Burke

2007

A short story collection.

"Burke paints a vivid picture of 1940s and 1950s Texas and Louisiana, from heartbreaking childhood reminiscences to death on an oil drilling barge and betrayal within a rock 'n' roll band. And as you would expect of a writer who cares passionately about his fellow man as well as the environment, the more contemporary stories deal with the devastation left by a hurricane - the despair of those stranded or left widowed by the disaster. Here is the first collection for ten years of stories by a modern master. Become lost in the melancholy beauty of James Lee Burke's writing in this remarkable assortment of tales."The stories are:

• Winter Light
• The Village
• The Night Johnny Ace Died
• Water People
• Texas City, 1947
• Mist
• A Season Of Regret
• The Molester
• The Burning Of The Flag
• Why Bugsy Siegel Was A Friend Of Mine
• Jesus Out To Sea

Swan Peak

James Lee Burke

2008

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"After the devastating events recounted in THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN, Dave Robicheaux and his ex-partner in Homicide, Clete Purcel, head for the mountains and trout streams of Montana for some much-needed healing. However, while Montana might seem an unspoilt paradise peopled by men and women from an earlier, more innocent time in American history, Dave and Clete soon find that there are plenty of serpents in the garden too. The deaths of a couple of hikers suggest a perverted serial killer may be at work, while an escaped jailbird and his former tormentor are locked in a savage dance of revenge that is ultimately connected to the fortunes of a wealthy oil family hiding a terrible secret."

Rain Gods

James Lee Burke

2009

A Hackberry Holland novel.

"Hackberry Holland is a man haunted by a chequered and traumatic past. A former POW from the Korean War, he has left everything behind to become sheriff of a dried-out, broken-down border town in south Texas. But Hack soon finds himself dealing with more than just his own demons when nine dead prostitutes are dug up behind a run-down church. The search for justice - and revenge - pits Hack against hired guns, drug dealers who operate on both sides of the border, and a psychotic killer known as The Preacher."

The Glass Rainbow

James Lee Burke

2010

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"When Dave Robicheaux gets the call saying his ex-partner Clete Purcel is in jail for felony assault and resisting arrest, bailing him out is instinctive. After all, Clete is the man who saved Dave's life by carrying him down a fire escape with two bullets in his back. But Clete's latest escapade isn't just worrying because it shows his demons are gaining the upper hand; it also brings some of those demons into Dave's life, in the most personal way possible. The man Clete assaulted, a big-time pimp and meth dealer is a suspect in the murder of a series of young women - but his criminal activities are hidden behind his involvement in a charity aimed at getting young women off the streets. As Dave probes the charity further, he finds that its main sponsor is the smooth-talking scion of a wealthy family, and a man whose motives Dave instinctively mistrusts. He also happens to be Dave's daughter's boyfriend."

Feast Day of Fools

James Lee Burke

2011

A Hackberry Holland novel.

"Danny Boy Lorca was used to having apocalyptic visions - the beatings he'd taken in jail and the booze he drank to forget them made sure of that. But what he saw and heard that night out in the desert was more terrifying than anything even his battered spirit could have conjured. A man tortured to death. Slowly and methodically and with inhuman cruelty. When Danny Boy tells his tale to Sheriff Hackberry Holland, Hack knows something evil has leaked over the border into his corner of South Texas. What he doesn't realize is that this brutal slaying is just the beginning of a twisted three-way manhunt that will pit a psychotic killer seeking release for the souls of his murdered children against a religious maniac in love with death, and a Russian gangster whose name is a byword for fear."

Creole Belle

James Lee Burke

2012

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Dave is in a recovery unit in New Orleans, where a Creole girl named Tee Jolie Melton visits him and leaves him an iPod with the country blues song 'Creole Belle' on it. Then she disappears. Dave becomes obsessed with the song and the memory of Tee Jolie and goes in search of her sister, who later turns up inside a block of ice floating in the Gulf. Meanwhile, there has been an oil well blowout on the Gulf, threatening the cherished environs of the bayous."

Light of the World

James Lee Burke

2013

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"When Detective Dave Robicheaux's daughter, Alafair, declares her intention to interview a convicted serial killer called Asa Surette, he does all he can to dissuade her. Dave has always encouraged her ambitions as a writer, but as a father he doesn't want her to be exposed to a man so nakedly evil. And his fears seem well founded when Alafair is visibly shocked by the encounter. Two years later, the horror Surette evoked is all but forgotten, as Dave and his family are vacationing amidst the natural beauty of Montana. But evil, it seems, has followed them into this wild paradise. Someone is stalking Alafair, and Dave begins to suspect that it's Surette - even though he officially died when the prison truck he was being transported in collided with an oil tanker. Is Alafair now the target of one of the most depraved serial killers ever to have been caught, or has she unwittingly crossed paths with a murderous psychopath closer to home?"

Wayfaring Stranger

James Lee Burke

2014

A Holland Family novel.

"When 16-year-old Weldon Avery Holland encounters the notorious Bonnie and Clyde in his Texas hometown, the course of his young life is altered forever. He dedicates himself to fighting evil wherever he finds it. But it's the 1930s and evil is sweeping the globe as the Nazis rise. When war breaks out, Holland finds himself in Germany, irrevocably scarred by scenes of death and destruction. Peacetime brings apparent bliss, and Holland is offered a path to wealth and luxury by the enigmatic 'Wayfaring Stranger'. But soon, he discovers that the greed, violence and ruthlessness of war are nothing compared to the depths of human cruelty at play here."

House of the Rising Sun

James Lee Burke

2015

A Holland Family novel.

"From its opening scene in revolutionary Mexico to the Battle of the Marne in 1918, and on to the bordellos and saloons of San Antonio during the reign of the Hole in the Wall Gang, House of the Rising Sun is an epic tale of love, loss, betrayal, vengeance, and retribution that follows Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland on his journey to reunite with his estranged son, Ishmael, a captain in the United States Army. After a violent encounter that leaves four Mexican soldiers dead, Hackberry escapes the country in possession of a stolen artifact, earning the ire of a bloodthirsty Austrian arms dealer who then places Hack's son Ishmael squarely in the cross hairs of a plot to recapture his prize, believed to be the mythic cup of Christ. Along the way, we meet three extraordinary women: Ruby Dansen, the Danish immigrant who is Ishmael's mother and Hackberry's one true love; Beatrice DeMolay, a brothel madam descended from the crusader knight who brought the shroud of Turin back from the Holy Land; and Maggie Bassett, one-time lover of the Sundance Kid, whose wiles rival those of Lady Macbeth. In her own way, each woman will aid Hackberry in his quest to reconcile with Ishmael, to vanquish their enemies, and to return the Grail to its rightful place."

The Jealous Kind

James Lee Burke

2016

A Holland Family novel.

"On its surface, life in Houston is as you would expect: drive-in restaurants, souped-up cars, jukeboxes, teenagers discovering their sexuality. But beneath the glitz and superficial normalcy, a class war has begun, and it is nothing like the conventional portrayal of the decade. Against this backdrop Aaron Holland Broussard discovers the poignancy of first love and a world of violence he did not know existed. When Aaron spots the beautiful and gifted Valerie Epstein fighting with her boyfriend, Grady Harrelson, at a Galveston drive-in, he inadvertently challenges the power of the Mob and one of the richest families in Texas. He also discovers he must find the courage his father had found as an American soldier in the Great War."

Robicheaux

James Lee Burke

2018

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"robicheaux is a haunted man. Detective Dave Robicheaux's beloved wife, Molly, was cruelly taken from him. Her killing left him nothing but heartbreak and unanswered questions. Now, in the heat of the Louisiana Bayou, he drinks to forget. Robicheaux is a wanted man. After a heavy night, he wakes to find his hands cut and bruised. He has no idea where he's been or what he's done. When another cop tells him that the man who killed Molly has been found murdered, Robicheaux knows if he can't prove his whereabouts, he will be the prime suspect. BUT IS Robicheaux An Innocent Man? He never claimed he was a saint - he doesn't even know if he did it. And to clear his name, Robicheaux will have to go to hell and back . . ."

The New Iberia Blues

James Lee Burke

2019

A Dave Robicheaux novel.

"Detective Dave Robicheaux’s world isn’t filled with too many happy stories, but Desmond Cormier’s rags-to-riches tale is certainly one of them. Robicheaux first met Cormier on the streets of New Orleans, when the young, undersized boy had foolish dreams of becoming a Hollywood director. Twenty-five years later, when Robicheaux knocks on Cormier’s door, it isn’t to congratulate him on his Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Robicheaux has discovered the body of a young woman who’s been crucified, wearing only a small chain on her ankle. She disappeared near Cormier’s Cyrpemort Point estate, and Robicheaux, along with young deputy, Sean McClain, are looking for answers. Neither Cormier nor his enigmatic actor friend Antoine Butterworth are saying much, but Robicheaux knows better. As always, Clete Purcel and Davie’s daughter, Alafair, have Robicheaux’s back. Clete witnesses the escape of Texas inmate, Hugo Tillinger, who may hold the key to Robicheaux’s case. As they wade further into the investigation, they end up in the crosshairs of the mob, the deranged Chester Wimple, and the dark ghosts Robicheaux has been running from for years. Ultimately, it’s up to Robicheaux to stop them all, but he’ll have to summon a light he’s never seen or felt to save himself, and those he loves."

Neon Noir: Contemporary American Crime Fiction

Woody Haut

1999

"From the Kennedy assassination to the Vietnam War and Watergate, through Reaganomics to Irangate and Whitewater, Neon Noir is a roller-coaster ride through the American nightmare. Haut investigates the dark side of America through the work of crime writers such as James Ellroy, Elmore Leonard, Walter Mosley, James Lee Burke, Lawrence Block, James Sallis, George Pelecanos, Charles Willeford, Jerome Charyn, Sara Paretsky, Vicki Hendricks, KC Constantine, George V Higgins and James Crumley. Mapping the fissures and scars of America's psychogeography, its morally ambiguous shadowlands, Neon Noir also considers the difference between past and present hardboilers, the impact of war and journalism on noirists, the portrayal of cities, the aesthetics of crime fiction, and the changing relationship between the books and the films."

New Hard-Boiled Writers: 1970s-1990s

Leroy Lad Panek

2000

"Beginning in the 1970s, a new generation of writers took over the hard-boiled story and transformed it to fit the realities of their world - a universe infected by violence, greed, racism, sexism, war, and commercialism. The author comments both on the way the hard-boiled story has changed over the past three decades and examines the work of ten significant contemporary hard-boiled writers. Chapters on Robert B. Parker, James Crumley, Loren Estleman, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Carl Hiaasen, Earl Emerson, Robert Crais, James Lee Burke, and Walter Mosley demonstrate how these writers have used the hard-boiled hero to make powerful statements about life in the last quarter of the twentieth century."

James Lee Burke and the Soul of Dave Robicheaux: A Critical Study of the Crime Fiction Series

Barbara Bogue

2006

"This book explores how James Lee Burke, through the first person narrative of detective Dave Robicheaux, probes the world of law and order, crime and disorder, and one man's internal conflicts with modern moral issues."

Becoming Cajun, Becoming American: The Acadian in American Literature from Longfellow to James Lee Burke

Maria Hebert-Leiter

2009

"From antebellum times, Louisiana's unique multipartite society included a legal and social space for intermediary racial groups such as Acadians, Creoles, and Creoles of Color. In Becoming Cajun, Becoming American, Maria Hebert-Leiter explores how American writers have portrayed Acadian culture over the past 150 years. Combining a study of Acadian literary history with an examination of Acadian ethnic history in light of recent social theories, she offers insight into the Americanization process experienced by Acadians -- who over time came to be known as Cajuns -- during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."

A Divided Conscience: Essays on the Fiction of James Lee Burke

Editor: Leonard Engel

2010

"Mysteries and detective stories are among the most popular of books but the writers of such genre fiction suffer from a perception that their work is to be taken less seriously than so-called literary fiction. The novels of James Lee Burke, one of the most distinguished writers of crime novels, challenge that notion, as do the twelve essays in this collection. This work examines Burke as a writer who has expanded the mystery-detective genre with an astonishing diversity of themes, imaginative language and descriptions, and unforgettable characters. He seems unbounded by limitations of genre. An interview with Burke is included."The contents are:

• Introduction (Leonard Engel)
• The Struggles Of Southern Identity In White Doves At Morning (Brad Klypchak)
• "I Took No Joy In It": Southern Violence And Folk Justice In The Robicheaux Novels (Patricia Gaitely)
• Soldiering On: Dave Robicheaux And Vietnam (Donald Anderson)
• "Jesus Out To Sea": Burke's Homage To Those Left Behind In The War Zone (Barbara Zimmerman Bogue)
• Ghosts, Demons, Or The DTs? The Supernatural In The Robicheaux Series (Linda J. Holland-Toll)
• Believe Not Every Spirit: Strange Shadows In The Novels (Brett Westbrook)
• Water, Water Everywhere: Elemental Poetics And Politics In The Tin Roof Blowdown (Josiane Peltier)
• The Entangled Web: Heaven's Prisoners In Manichean Prisons (Sam Coale)
• The Past Is The Past: Refusing To Age Gracefully In The Robicheaux Series (Thomas Easterling)
• The Evil That Men Do: Options For Masculinity (Brett Westbrook)
• Cimarron Rose: Guns And Roses In The West (John M. Gourlie)
• Robicheaux's Sublime Torment On Film: Phil Joanou's Heven's Prisoners (1996) And Bertrand Tavernier's In The Electric Mist (2009) (Dennis Rothermel)
• Interview With James Lee Burke (Leonard Engel)

Robicheaux s Roots: Culture and Tradition in James Lee Burke s Dave Robicheaux Novels

Patricia M. Gaitely

2016

"James Lee Burke developed the character of Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux through twenty mystery novels published over three decades. Despite readers' increasing interest in Detective Robicheaux, his habits and preferences originate from a culture still unfamiliar to many of the books' fans. In Robicheaux's Roots, Patricia M. Gaitely explores the music, food, language, and folklore of southwest Louisiana and illuminates the cultural sources that Burke incorporated into this gripping series. . . . . Robicheaux's Roots reveals how elements of south Louisiana's culture signal a sense of belonging but also recall the area's history of isolation. As a result, readers gain a deeper understanding of Robicheaux himself and an enhanced appreciation for Burke's acclaimed series."

James Lee Burke: A Literary Companion

Laurence W. Mazzeno

2017

"This companion is designed for general readers and scholars interested in Burke's work. Organized alphabetically, entries provide analysis of Burke's novels and short stories; commentary on characters, places, events, and themes; and suggestions for further research. Also included are glossary offering briefer sketches of people, places, and events mentioned in the fiction, with emphasis on terms peculiar to Louisiana's Acadian population, and a selection of interviews and profiles focused on Burke and his work."

A Celebration of Words: Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Andre Dubus & Son

Kacey Kowars

2017

"In-depth essays on the rise of four best-selling American authors."

Another Celebration of Words: Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Jeannette Walls, Horton Foote

Kacey Kowars

2018

"Unique insight into the creative process that Michael Connelly, Jeannette Walls, James Lee Burke, and Horton Foote use to create their iconic works. The author has conducted in-depth personal interviews with the authors over the past 15 years. The essays discuss how the author came to know the writers and includes transcriptions of live interviews and personal anecdotes as well."