Product Description

When a man imprisoned for killing a black civil rights leader protests his innocence before Dave Robicheaux, the Louisiana detective finds himself pressured by the state's new governor and his seductive wife to stay away from the case. Reprint."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81993 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 464 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780786889181
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Amazon.com Review
One of Burke's series of crime stories set in the Louisiana bayou country, this story chronicles the difficult mission of Sheriff's Deputy Dave Robicheaux to confirm the guilt of a redneck named Aaron Crown in the killing of a civil rights leader back in the 1960s, and to find out what Crown's recent arrest has to do with an upcoming gubernatorial election. His task becomes mired in the history and inbred politics of New Iberia and thwarted by a ghoulish hit man who crawls out of the swamps to silence police informants. A wild story with enough oddball characters to make it interesting and worthwhile.

From Publishers Weekly
A ripeness of villains, the familiar good guys and some who travel the territory in between comprise the cast of the rich ninth Dave Robicheaux adventure, following Burning Angel. Nearly 30 years after the shooting death of a prominent black civil rights leader, Louisiana redneck Aaron Crown, age 68, is convicted of the crime. Crown, insisting he didn't do it, asks Robicheaux, sheriff's deputy of New Iberia, La., who once found his runaway daughter, to investigate. Meanwhile, others turn the story to their own advantage: Buford LaRose, a wealthy university professor running for Louisiana governor, hopes to ride the sales of his book, pointing to Crown's guilt, to victory; and New York film interests come down to interview Crown. Then in New Orleans, a film writer is brutally executed. Despite a deep reluctance to be involved with the slick LaRose, whose wife he once slept with (and who tempts him still), Robicheaux is drawn into ensuing events. One of three mob-related figures whom Robicheaux suspects of backing LaRose warns him off; Crown escapes; LaRose wins the election; a huge psychopathic hired killer reappears; a mob figure is beaten to death; and a freethinker from the 1960s, now a LaRose family guru, is connected to a Mexican drug operation. Burke delivers more spectacular killings before clearing the 30-year-long thicket of revenge, ambition and blackmail and arriving at the Tara-like ending. The cast's knotted relationships may not always be clear, but Robicheaux's angst and stubborn do-right determination shine as bright as the plastic casing on the replica 1950's Wurlitzer of the title. $250,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Is Dave Robicheaux mellowing with old age? Burke's latest addition to his popular series featuring the bayou detective (e.g., Burning Angel, Hyperion, 1995) is a formulaic romp with all the elements fans have come to expect: A convoluted plot fueled by violent but excruciatingly polite characters, racial sins of the past that bedevil the residents of the New South, wonderful dialog with occasional indecipherable street slang, and numerous descriptions of mouth-watering Cajun food. Robicheaux, who here suspects that the alleged killer of a revered Civil Rights figure is innocent, is opposed on all fronts, most aggressively by a liberal candidate for governer of Louisiana and the candidate's sexy but dangerous wife. Robicheaux is strangely low-key, however, and readers who expect the traditional violent outburst wherein Robicheaux kicks the stuffing out of some deserving creep will be puzzled by his seemingly minor role in the action. An anticlimactic ending further diminishes the novel's appeal. Still, Burke has built a huge fan base and larger public libraries should probably stock a copy.
-?Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

HE'S A MAGIC MAN, MAMA!
I am madly, deeply in lust/love with Dave Robicheaux AND James Lee Burke. I've lived in the enchanting state of Louisiana my entire life and Burke makes me fall in love with it all over again each time I read one of his novels set here. He's a word magician and that's putting it mildly. For instance:

"Each morning after the sun rose out of the swamp and burned the fog away, the sky would harden to such a deep heart-wrenching blue that you felt you could reach up and fill your hand with it like bolls of stained cotton. The air was dry and cool, too, and the dust along the dirt road by the bayou seemed to rise into golden columns of smoke and light through the canopy of oaks overhead. ."

Hell, that's almost poetry! And he ain't just all purty words either! The plots are intriguing and compelling. I've read all of his books and feel totally lost when I've finished the latest Dave Robicheaux adventure. Keep 'em coming Mr. Burke!

Dave is a charmer...
I have read just about everything James Lee Burke has written, but my favorite character by far is Dave Robicheaux. This was actually the first of the Burke books I "read" (this one I actually listened to in audio as it was a gift to me -- and that alone was wonderful as the narrator had a fabulous Louisiana accent that brought the words alive). JLB's style is poetic, and the scenes he sets for you bring you right there to the Bayou with his words. He is a master at setting the scene and making you see the characters and hear their voice. His ability to spin a crime story with twists and turns, while getting you into Dave's head, his history and his love of his family are unsurpassed. Best advice regarding the Dave series: try to read them in the order written -- it helps to get a sense of time in Dave's personal life -- there are changes that occur and I was blind sided by a couple of them because I read out of order.

Burke is all over the place; not up to his usual standards
Yes, James Lee Burke is a terrific wordsmith who can bring the Cajun backwoods and bayous alive for readers, but this particular work is quite simply, a sprawling, literary hodge-podge. The story is loosely woven to the point of being chaotic--Dave Robicheaux skitters here, there, and everywhere, including TWO almost gratuitous mini-jaunts to Mexico. The characters are "colorful," but in some cases, such as that of Aaron Crown, the eccentricity deteriorates into cartoon-like caricature. There are various smalltime gangsters who are hard to keep straight, there is a politician's wife who turns up periodically to strip off her clothes, taunt Robicheaux sexually, and then disappear in a cloud of vituperative hissing. And there are more than a few digressions and sidebars to the story that don't ever seem quite justified--it's all a bit much, methinks, and overall it makes for a story that never really hangs together adequately.

Still, Burke is a good enough writer that it's a hard book to put down once started. I think he has done better in others of his mysteries, however.