Product Description

For detective Dave Robicheaux, memories -- including those of a strange and violent summer from his youth -- are best left alone. But a dying man's confession forces Robicheaux to resurrect a decades-old mystery with a missing woman at its heart. Her name may or may not have been Ida Durbin, and Robicheaux's half brother, Jimmie, paid a brutal price for entering her world. Now the truth will plunge Robicheaux into the manipulations of New Orleans' wealthiest family, into a complex love affair of his own, and into hot pursuit of a killer expanding his territory beyond the Big Easy at a frightening pace.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5773 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 512 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Superb writing and a throbbing pace lift two-time Edgar-winner Burke's powerful, many-layered 14th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2003's Last Car to Elysian Fields), which involves venal and arrogant members of a wealthy family that can trace its lineage to fifth-century France as well as the machinations of the New Orleans mafia. A conversation between Robicheaux and a dying childhood friend about Ida Durbin, a young prostitute that Robicheaux's half-brother, Jimmie, loved and lost in the late 1950s, sets the ex-homicide detective on a path that eventually leads to several gruesome killings and his near downfall. Unemployed, his wife dead, his daughter in college, Robicheaux rejoins the New Iberia, La., sheriff's department at the urging of Sheriff Helen Soileau, who needs an extra hand as the murders mount. While the tendrils of the sometimes rambling plot unfold, Robicheaux and his impulsive former police partner, PI Clete Purcell, seek retribution for injustices caused by a wide range of corrupt villains. Burke masterfully combines landscape and memory in a violent, complex story peopled by sharply defined characters who inhabit a lush, sensual, almost mythological world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
The aging Robicheaux has led a full life—full of loss, violence, and evil. Critics agree that Crusader’s Cross is a worthy addition to the series. It’s all here—the violence, the power plays, the class and racial tensions, Robicheaux’s stubbornness, the Louisiana landscape, and, of course, the references to crosses. As usual, Burke takes readers deep inside his protagonist’s heart to show how one man deals with the world’s evils, and it’s the lyrical writing and palpable scenes that make that possible. Some tangled subplots and a weak rendering of women (including Robicheaux’s daughter) barely detract. If you believe "that beauty and horror go hand in hand," notes the Washington Post, Burke "can touch you in ways few writers can."

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* "The person who believes he can rise to a position of wealth and power in Louisiana without doing business with the devil probably knows nothing about the devil and even less about Louisiana." Anyone who doesn't assume those words were spoken by James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux doesn't read mysteries. There are bent rich guys sipping bourbon on nearly every Spanish Moss-lined patio in New Iberia Parish, and Robicheaux's Cajun blood boils at the thought of each one of them. As Clete Purcell, Dave's saner-than-he-looks pal, remarks near the beginning of this thirteenth entry in the series, "We're back . . . to rich people you can't stand. There's a pattern here, big mon." Yes, there is a pattern, but those who object to the similarity in Burke's plots and themes miss the bigger picture. Patterns are inevitable, in life as in nature, and much of the satisfaction of living life and observing nature comes in identifying both the patterns and the variations, which is exactly what Burke does in this series. This time a serial killer on the loose takes Robicheaux back to 1958 and an encounter he and his brother had with a prostitute. Burke's remarkable lyricism hits its most plaintive notes when he re-creates lost moments from the past, but this time those moments must be reinterpreted, much as his assumptions about the new batch of bent rich guys must be reexamined. And in the midst of all that, Robicheaux's personal life is transformed in the most unlikely of circumstances. Surprise lurking in the crevices of a recurring pattern: that's nature at its most beautiful, and Burke at his most eloquent. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Violence, embedded in achingly beautiful poetry
Steady, consistent, lyrical, reliable, soothing, wonderful, a distinct voice.......all ways to describe James Lee Burke's writing. For myself, while it may be an odd thought, I have always had moments when reading his prose when I felt like I was actually reading poetry, his writing is that beautiful. You just can't go wrong with James Lee Burke and his protagonist Dave Robicheaux. I highly recommend this book, and anything else he has ever written, he is simply that good. Crusader's Cross, set in the bayou country of Louisiana and the surrounding environs, relates a tale of the long-lost puppy love of Dave's brother and their search for what happened to her, weaves in a new story line revolving about a tough, remarkable nun, and features both an odd family who claim descent from Roman heroes who defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons and a depraved, sadistic serial killer who seems to be taunting Robicheaux. These separate threads are intricately woven together against the historical and ongoing backdrop of the prostitution trade in the South.

In his richly drawn and finely realized protagonist, Burke has created a true hero: a complex man, with deep roots and deeper loves, heartsick for the lost way of life of his idealized youth in the Acadian bayou country. Dave Robicheaux, son of an Cajun oil rig worker, child of the golden fifties, Vietnam veteran, police detective, alcoholic, husband, father, friend, a man of violence and conscience, wondering where the beauty in his world has gone. This novel may be one of his best yet, and I was glad to see his half-brother show up again. Run, don't walk, to go get your copy of this book and prepare for wonderful experience - this is a rare one. Shut out your friends and family, grab some goodies to eat, lock the door, throw the bolt and settle in for one heck of a good read. Crusader's Cross is another wonderful installment in the Robicheaux series.

Pure James Lee Burke...
Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke is yet another view into the seedy world of New Orleans and its environs. Burke is a master at writing gritty tales that capture the flavor and spirit of the world he depicts. I know of no other author today that is as good a descriptive writer than Burke. When Burke describes a summer thunderstorm you can smell the dampness rising off the pavement. Pure magic. Burke has included Dave's good friend and PI buddy Clete Purcell (Semper Fi), so the gangs all here.

In Crusader's Cross Dave Robicheaux is alone, and unemployed. His wife is dead, his adopted daughter away at college. Robicheaux is about as low as you can get. A death bed confession takes Robicheaux back to the late 50's when he and his brother were very innocent. As Robicheaux presses into the disappearance of a young prostitute nearly 50 years ago he is "encouraged" to let it go. Factor into this story the Chalon family (brother and sister) and you have the makings of a real south Louisianna clam bake.

Crusader's Cross is rich with atmosphere. The story is full bodied and the characters memorable. This is a terrific summer read.

Writing 5 stars, plot 3 stars...
After reading the first thirteen Dave Robicheaux mysteries by James Lee Burke at Breakneck speed, I finally came to the end of this series with Crusader's Cross. Actually, since Crusader's Cross was recently published, I'm hoping that Burke still has a number of Robicheaux novels left to write.

Crusader's Cross opens up with Dave Robicheaux no longer working for the Iberia Sheriff's Department. But his sabbatical doesn't last very long. First, a former schoolmate makes a deathbed confession to Robicheaux. He's afraid that he may have contributed to the death of a prostitute, Ida Durkin. Ida saved Jimmie Robicheaux's (Dave's half-brother) life back in 1958 and Jimmie had a crush on her when she mysteriously vanished. Also, a serial killer is brutally murdering women in the New Orleans/Iberia Parish area. Dave's former partner, Helen Soileau is now sheriff and she reluctantly allows Dave back on the force.

As with all Robicheaux novels, events are set in motion when Dave starts poking around. The usual things start happening: his life is threatened, friend Clete Purcel gets involved doing wild things, hit men start appearing, etc. Robicheaux always seems at war with the upper class, and in Crusader's Cross, he feels that secrets being hidden by the Chalon family hold the key to the disappearance of Ida Durbin. And if there aren't enough plot complications, Dave falls in love with a nun.

Many aspects of the plot have similarities to previous books, but we excuse Burke because his writing is so terrific. He is especially astute when it comes to describing Louisiana. "The state's culture, mind-set, religious attitudes, and economics are no different from those of a Caribbean nation. The person who believes he can rise to a position of wealth and power in the state of Louisiana and not do business with the devil probably knows nothing about the devil and even less about Louisiana." Burke describes alcoholism as "not a disease here but a venerated family heirloom." Burke's characters are always interesting and I'm beginning to enjoy Helen Soileau as much as I like Cletus Purcel. But I will admit that with Robicheaux's anger management issues, it is a stretch that he would remain a cop. Maybe it's a Louisiana thing.

Seeing a book review for Crusader's Cross this summer is what introduced me to James Lee Burke. Now that I've gone through all the Robicheaux novels, I'll have to start on his Billy Bob Holland series.