Texas' very own Sherlock Holmes
You like mystery?
James Lee Burke is your answer. His style takes on a life of its own. With a bit of Texas added to it. He’s also the best selling author on the New York times. I'm sure you've heard of him.
You’ll always find a shelf full of his books at any retail bookstore. Sex, greed, violence and old hatreds come with the package. His detective books fill with sins and legacies. And the heartbeat of Texas glory. Sure Burke cranks out many books.
But I was never disappointed in any of them.
Many clever plots. An abundance of Texas country land and its next door neighbor of cypress-filled swamps in Louisiana. A bit of darkness in his work. When you dig further, you’ll find another side to his books. They’re often brutal, numbed with reality.
The people in his work often are poverty-stricken, trapped in a town filled with gossip. A web of lies bog down their lives.
Enter the longest running detective hero of Burke’s books. Louisiana police detective Dave Robicheaux has an instinct for the macabre. He can weed out criminals from the people. He’s a working class hero.
But he has his flaws too. Robicheaux drinks to the bottom of bottles. His relationship with his wife can be a stormy one. But she is his support. The past often catches up with him. Yet he never steers from his driving force: to solve a mystery that taunts him like whispers from ghosts.
I have too many favorites. “Jolie Blon’s Bounce” tells about Robicheaux facing an evil side of himself: an alter ego named Legion Guidry. Once a local sugarcane plantation, he's now poor like many other people. Yet he keeps a evil grip on the people. He’s like a town bully. He won’t let go of some people. Legion could very well be darkness himself.
The book lends itself into corruption. And a struggle between the detective and Legion. The town becomes a battlefield. Robicheaux still gets help from his wife and longtime friend Clete Purcel. The book reads like a beauty.
“Heartwood” was my first exposure to Burke. But a series of other books revolve around Robicheaux. I find them interesting, solid reading. The writing always paced. “Purple Cane Road” tells about the detective with a tragic past. An abusive father driven by booze. And a whorish mother killed by cops a lifetime ago.
The lastest book is called "Crusader's Cross." Burke's books has another hero named Billy Bob Holland who is a former cop and a Texas Ranger. Those books find themselves in a glory of violence and heart-pounding mystery.
His words are like a hurricane of poetry. Between passages of lust and anger often lead deeper into horror and mystery at its best. The works read fast. And I always find myself wanting to learn more about his detective and the life he leads in the seedy side of Louisiana. It can be ugly. The wounds of passion drowns his books. The trail of loss and racial bigotry can harden a detective like Robicheaux. And it'll lead to new roads.
It’ll be interesting to see how Burke revisits Robicheaux in the Big Easy now ravaged by the recent hurricane. Much of the culture may be lost. But another chapter of mystery can be cultivated.
James Lee Burke is your answer. His style takes on a life of its own. With a bit of Texas added to it. He’s also the best selling author on the New York times. I'm sure you've heard of him.
You’ll always find a shelf full of his books at any retail bookstore. Sex, greed, violence and old hatreds come with the package. His detective books fill with sins and legacies. And the heartbeat of Texas glory. Sure Burke cranks out many books.
But I was never disappointed in any of them.
Many clever plots. An abundance of Texas country land and its next door neighbor of cypress-filled swamps in Louisiana. A bit of darkness in his work. When you dig further, you’ll find another side to his books. They’re often brutal, numbed with reality.
The people in his work often are poverty-stricken, trapped in a town filled with gossip. A web of lies bog down their lives.
Enter the longest running detective hero of Burke’s books. Louisiana police detective Dave Robicheaux has an instinct for the macabre. He can weed out criminals from the people. He’s a working class hero.
But he has his flaws too. Robicheaux drinks to the bottom of bottles. His relationship with his wife can be a stormy one. But she is his support. The past often catches up with him. Yet he never steers from his driving force: to solve a mystery that taunts him like whispers from ghosts.
I have too many favorites. “Jolie Blon’s Bounce” tells about Robicheaux facing an evil side of himself: an alter ego named Legion Guidry. Once a local sugarcane plantation, he's now poor like many other people. Yet he keeps a evil grip on the people. He’s like a town bully. He won’t let go of some people. Legion could very well be darkness himself.
The book lends itself into corruption. And a struggle between the detective and Legion. The town becomes a battlefield. Robicheaux still gets help from his wife and longtime friend Clete Purcel. The book reads like a beauty.
“Heartwood” was my first exposure to Burke. But a series of other books revolve around Robicheaux. I find them interesting, solid reading. The writing always paced. “Purple Cane Road” tells about the detective with a tragic past. An abusive father driven by booze. And a whorish mother killed by cops a lifetime ago.
The lastest book is called "Crusader's Cross." Burke's books has another hero named Billy Bob Holland who is a former cop and a Texas Ranger. Those books find themselves in a glory of violence and heart-pounding mystery.
His words are like a hurricane of poetry. Between passages of lust and anger often lead deeper into horror and mystery at its best. The works read fast. And I always find myself wanting to learn more about his detective and the life he leads in the seedy side of Louisiana. It can be ugly. The wounds of passion drowns his books. The trail of loss and racial bigotry can harden a detective like Robicheaux. And it'll lead to new roads.
It’ll be interesting to see how Burke revisits Robicheaux in the Big Easy now ravaged by the recent hurricane. Much of the culture may be lost. But another chapter of mystery can be cultivated.
posted by K.M. Paters at 9:08 PM
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