Download or read book Robicheaux s Roots written by Patricia M. Gaitely and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2016-08-22 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. Part of Robicheaux’s appeal, Gaitely shows, rests in his connection to his hometown of New Iberia, with its faults, charm, and reliance on the old ways. Multiple cultural strands coexist in this region, including Creole and Cajun French dialect; African American folk sayings; swamp pop, zydeco, and blues music; and voodoo, Catholicism, evangelicalism, and faith healing. These aspects of Cajun life weave throughout Robicheaux’s world. The commingling of so many traditions provides multiple meanings for even the most common encounters—water can be both natural element and medium between living and dead; and gumbo, jambalaya, and crawfish may represent more than simply regional foods. Additionally, Gaitely demonstrates that beneath the pleasant veneer of southern hospitality, a persistent legacy of violence and vengeance leaves a lasting mark on the lives of Robicheaux and the other characters. 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.
Download or read book James Lee Burke and the Soul of Dave Robicheaux written by Barbara Bogue and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-27 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When he created the character Dave Robicheaux, author James Lee Burke lent the New Orleans homicide detective a few of his own characteristics: a daughter named Alafair, a lifetime struggle with alcohol, his Roman Catholic faith, and his love for fishing and the outdoors. On the other hand, Robicheaux is portrayed as a veteran of the Vietnam war, something Burke never experienced firsthand. Yet the demons Burke has known allow him to write convincingly about demons he never knew. Thus Burke has created a realistic, complex and compelling protagonist for his crime fiction series. That depth is one element that elevates Burke's writing above the status of genre fiction. 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. The first chapter reveals the similarities and differences between real life creator and fictional protagonist. Next, chapters arranged by theme explore the roles of women, Robicheaux's paternal side as revealed through his adopted daughter, the paternal influences in the detective's own life, and the contrasting personality of his half-brother, Jimmie. The next chapters probe the roots of the detective's moral dilemmas: his battle with alcohol, the Vietnam war's lingering trauma, and religion. Next the author explores Burke's use of the supernatural, sense of place, and music to deepen his stories. Final chapters delve into Robicheaux's moral quandaries as a law enforcement officer, the character's contrast to his reckless and funny partner, Clete, and how Burke reveals truths about life through Robicheaux. An interview with Burke is included.
Download or read book Robicheaux written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Lee Burke’s most beloved character, Dave Robicheaux, returns in this New York Times bestselling mystery set in the towns and backwoods of Louisiana: an “enthralling yet grim novel that…will captivate, start to finish” (Publishers Weekly). Dave Robicheaux is a haunted man. From the acts he committed in Vietnam, to his battles with alcoholism, to the sudden loss of his beloved wife, Molly, his thoughts drift from one irreconcilable memory to the next. Images of ghosts pepper his reality. Robicheaux’s only beacon remains serving as a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana. It’s in that capacity that Robicheaux crosses paths with powerful mob boss, Tony Nemo. Tony has a Civil War sword he’d like to give to Levon Broussard, a popular local author whose books have been adapted into major Hollywood films. Then there’s Jimmy Nightengale, the young poster boy of New Orleans wealth and glamour. Jimmy’s fond of Levon’s work, and even fonder of his beautiful, enigmatic wife, Rowena. Tony thinks Jimmy can be a US Senator someday, and has the resources and clout to make it happen. There’s something off about the relationship among these three men, and after a vicious assault, it’s up to Robicheaux to uncover the truth “in the barn-burner of a climax” (Booklist, starred review). Complicating matters is the sudden death of the New Iberian local responsible for Molly’s death; namely that Robicheaux’s colleague thinks Robicheaux had something to do with it. As Robicheaux works to clear his name and make sense of the murder, a harrowing study of America emerges: this nation’s abiding conflict between a sense of past grandeur and a legacy of shame, its easy seduction by demagogues and wealth, and its predilection for violence and revenge. “It has been almost five years since James Lee Burke’s last Dave Robicheaux novel, and it was absolutely worth the wait” (Associated Press).
Download or read book The Neon Rain written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-07-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes his definitive, must-read first title in his famous Dectective David Robicheaux series. New Orleans Detective Dave Robicheaux has fought too many battles: in Vietnam, with police brass, with killers and hustlers, and the bottle. Lost without his wife's love, Robicheaux haunts the intense and heady French Quarter—the place he calls home, and the place that nearly destroys him when he beomes involved in the case of a young prostitute whose body is found in a bayou. Thrust into the seedy world of drug lords and arms smugglers, Robicheaux must face down the criminal underworld and come to terms with his own bruised heart and demons to survive.
Download or read book The Glass Rainbow written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-07-13 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke, Detective Dave Robicheaux becomes entangled in a mystery that connects a series of grisly murders with an ex-convict turned bestselling author, a notorious local pimp, and the man currently dating Robicheaux’s daughter. On the trail of a killer responsible for the deaths of seven young women in neighboring Jefferson Davis parish, Detective Dave Robicheaux and his best friend Clete Purcel can’t seem to stay away from Herman Stanga, a notorious pimp whose name constantly resurfaces in their investigation, and whom both men despise. When Stanga turns up dead shortly after a fierce beating in front of numerous witnesses at the hands of Clete Purcel, the case takes a nasty turn, and solving the mystery of the Jefferson Davis deaths becomes more important than ever. Adding to Robicheaux’s troubles is the matter of his adopted daughter, Alafair, on hiatus from Stanford Law for a semester and home in New Iberia to put the finishing touches on her novel. Her literary pursuit has led her into the arms of Kermit Abelard, celebrated novelist and scion of a once-prominent Louisiana family whose fortunes are slowly sinking into the bayous. In Robicheaux’s mind, Abelard’s association with a sleazy ex-convict turned bestselling author named Robert Weingart puts him at the center of some very shady business, and Robicheaux fears he’s taking Alafair down with him. But at the same time he fears for Alafair’s well-being—and possibly her life—she’s becoming more distant toward him, convinced his concerns are just the paranoia of an overprotective father. To protect his daughter and clear his best friend’s name, Robicheaux will need every ounce of guts, wit, and investigative chops he can muster. From the creator of “one of America’s best mystery series” (Library Journal, starred review), James Lee Burke’s The Glass Rainbow is a “superlative” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) bayou thriller.
Download or read book Swan Peak written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-05-26 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The latest tale featuring the popular and flawed detective Dave Robicheaux takes him from the bayous of Louisiana's New Iberia Parish to the wild mountains of Montana.
Download or read book In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead written by James L. Burke and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1994-07 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crime fiction.
Download or read book Creole Belle written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Picking up where "The Glass Rainbow" ends, "Creole Belle" finds David Robicheaux recuperating in New Orleans near the site an oil well blowout on the Gulf. Robicheaux is visited by a mysterious visitor and is surprised by what's inside a floating block of ice. Available in a tall Premium Edition.
Download or read book A Dave Robicheaux Ebook Boxed Set written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 1324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catch up on Dave Robicheaux’s latest adventures. This boxed set includes the three most recent novels featuring fan favorite Detective Dave Robicheaux, The Tin Roof Blowdown, Swan Peak, and The Glass Rainbow, plus an excerpt from the next Robicheaux novel, Creole Belle (publishing July 2012). Robicheaux’s creator, New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke, is a rare winner of two Edgar Awards and in 2009 was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. The Tin Roof Blowdown In the waning days of summer, 2005, a storm of unfathomable force peels the face off southern Louisiana. This is the gruesome reality Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux discovers as he is deployed to New Orleans: Hurricane Katrina has left the commercial district and residential neighborhoods awash with bodies, as well as looters and predators of every stripe. The power grid destroyed, New Orleans is reduced to the level of a medieval society. There is no law, no order, no sanctuary for the infirm, the helpless, and the innocent. In the midst of an apocalyptic nightmare, Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante who may be more dangerous than the criminals looting the city. Swan Peak Swan Peak finds Detective Robicheaux far from his New Iberia roots, fleeing with his wife and his old buddy Clete Purcel from the harsh, gritty landscape of post-Katrina Louisiana to a ranch in rural Montana. The serenity of the untouched wilderness is soon shattered when two college students are brutally murdered in the hills behind the ranch, and Clete and Dave are quickly ensnared in a dangerous mystery with a twisted cast of characters including a vicious oil tycoon, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped con and former country music star, and a vigilante Texas gunbull out for blood. All the while, Clete can’t shake the feeling that he’s being haunted by a ghost from his past: Sally Dio, the mob boss he sabotaged and killed years ago. The Glass Rainbow Detective Dave Robicheaux and his partner, Clete Purcel, are on the trail of a killer responsible for the deaths of seven young women—a trail that always seems to lead back to the notorious pimp Herman Stanga, whom they both despise. But the case takes a nasty turn when Stanga turns up dead after a fierce beating by Purcel in front of numerous witnesses. Adding to Robicheaux’s troubles is his daughter Alafair’s romantic involvement with the scion of a once-prominent Louisiana family whom Robicheaux suspects is involved in some very shady business. To protect his daughter and clear his best friend’s name, Robicheaux will need every ounce of guts, wit, and investigative chops he can muster. Creole Belle (excerpt) Creole Belle begins with Dave Robicheaux in a recovery unit in New Orleans, not quite sure what is real and what may be the effects of the painkillers he’s been taking. While there, he receives a nighttime visit from a Creole girl named Tee Jolie Melton, who leaves him an iPod with the country blues song “Creole Belle” on it. Then she disappears. Obsessed with the song and the memory of Tee Jolie, Dave goes in search of her sister, Blue, who later turns up inside a block of ice floating in the Gulf. Meanwhile, an oil well blowout on the Gulf threatens the cherished environs of the bayous. In the face of public indifference to both the blowout and Blue Melton’s murder, Dave and Clete must find their own way to bring those responsible to justice.
Download or read book Jolie Blon s Bounce written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2002-06-04 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dave Robicheaux is back in this powerful New York Times bestseller that takes him into the underbelly of New Iberia’s mafia to solve the brutal murder of two teenage girls. When a beautiful teenage girl is killed, New Iberia police detective Dave Robicheaux senses that the most likely suspect, Tee Bobby Hulin, is not the actual killer. Though a drug addict and general neer-do-well, Hulin just doesn’t fit the profile for this kind of crime. He’s a Cajun blues singer (one of his songs is titled “Jolie Blon’s Bounce”), and he’s been raised by his grandmother Ladice Hulin, a proud and strong-willed black woman. But when there’s another, similar murder—this victim a drugged-out prostitute who happens to be the daughter of one of the local mafia bigwigs—the cries for an arrest become too loud to ignore. The mafia figure, however, prefers to take matters in his own hand and sets out to find—and punish—the killer himself. Once again, Tee Bobby Hulin seems the most likely suspect. Added to the mix of characters on the good guy side of the balance sheet is Clete Purcel, a long-time buddy of Robicheaux’s and a confirmed boozer and womanizer. Coming to New Iberia for a visit, Clete is quickly drawn into the struggle between the various forces of evil in the town: Jimmy Dean Styles, a black man intent on maintaining his empire of corruption; Joe Zeroski, a trailer-park mafioso with palatial aspirations—and of course Legion Guidrey, the devil incarnate.
Download or read book The New York Times Book Reviews 2000 written by New York Times Staff and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2001 with total page 1284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology examines Love's Labours Lost from a variety of perspectives and through a wide range of materials. Selections discuss the play in terms of historical context, dating, and sources; character analysis; comic elements and verbal conceits; evidence of authorship; performance analysis; and feminist interpretations. Alongside theater reviews, production photographs, and critical commentary, the volume also includes essays written by practicing theater artists who have worked on the play. An index by name, literary work, and concept rounds out this valuable resource.
Download or read book Heartwood written by James Lee Burke and published by Island Books. This book was released on 2011-09-21 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliantly layered novel of crime, character, and place from the two-time Edgar Award winner, Gold Dagger Award winner, and New York Times bestselling author of Sunset Limited. Few writers in America today combine James Lee Burke's lush prose, crackling story lines, and tremendous sense of history and landscape. In Cimmaron Rose, longtime fans of the Dave Robicheaux series found that the struggles of Texas defense attorney Billy Bob Holland show Burke at his best in exploring classic American themes--the sometimes subtle, often violent strains between the haves and the have-nots; the collision of past and present; the inequities in the criminal justice system. Heartwood is a kind of tree that grows in layers. And as Billy Bob's grandfather once told him, you do well in life by keeping the roots in a clear stream and not letting anyone taint the water for you. But in Holland's dusty little hometown of Deaf Smith, in the hill country north of Austin, local kingpin Earl Deitrich has made a fortune running roughshod and tainting anyone who stands in his way. Billy Bob has problems with Deitrich and his shamelessly callous demeanor, but can't shake the legacy of his passion for Deitrich's "heartbreak-beautiful" wife, Peggy Jean. When Holland takes on the defense of Wilbur Pickett--a man accused of stealing an heirloom and three hundred thousand dollars in bonds from Deitrich's office--he finds himself up against not only Earl's power and influence, but also a past Billy Bob can't will away. A wonderfully realized novel, rich in Texas atmosphere and lore, and a dazzling portrait of the deadly consequences of self-delusion, Heartwood could only have been written by James Lee Burke, a writer in expert command of his craft.
Download or read book Heaven s Prisoners written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-07-13 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Lee Burke’s second Robicheaux novel takes the detective out of New Orleans and into the bayou as he seeks a quieter life. Vietnam vet Dave Robicheaux has turned in his detective’s badge, is winning his battle against booze, and has left New Orleans with his wife for the tranquil beauty of Louisiana’s bayous. But a plane crash on the Gulf brings a young girl into his life—and with her comes a netherworld of murder, deception, and homegrown crime. Suddenly Robicheaux is confronting Bubba Rocque, a brutal hood he’s known since childhood; Rocque’s hungry Cajun wife; and a Federal agent with more guts than sense. In a backwater world where a swagger and a gun go further than the law, Robicheaux and those he loves are caught on a tide of violence far bigger than them all...
Download or read book Every Cloak Rolled in Blood written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-05-24 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his most autobiographical novel to date, James Lee Burke continues the epic Holland family saga with a writer grieving the death of his daughter while battling earthly and supernatural outlaws. Novelist Aaron Holland Broussard is shattered when his daughter Fannie Mae dies suddenly. As he tries to honor her memory by saving two young men from a life of crime amid their opioid-ravaged community, he is drawn into a network of villainy that includes a violent former Klansman, a far-from-holy minister, a biker club posing as evangelicals, and a murderer who has been hiding in plain sight. Aaron’s only ally is state police officer Ruby Spotted Horse, a no-nonsense woman who harbors some powerful secrets in her cellar. Despite the air of mystery surrounding her, Ruby is the only one Aaron can trust. That is, until the ghost of Fannie Mae shows up, guiding her father through a tangled web of the present and past and helping him vanquish his foes from both this world and the next. Drawn from James Lee Burke’s own life experiences, Every Cloak Rolled in Blood is a devastating exploration of the nature of good and evil and a deeply moving story about the power of love and family.
Download or read book James Lee Burke written by Laurence W. Mazzeno and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-12-18 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Lee Burke is an acclaimed writer of crime novels in which protagonists battle low-life thugs who commit violent crimes and corporate executives who exploit the powerless. He is best known for his Dave Robicheaux series, set in New Orleans and the surrounding bayou country. With characters inspired by his own family, Burke uses the mystery genre to explore the nature of evil and an individual's responsibility to friends, family and society at large. This companion to his works provides a commentary on all of the characters, settings, events and themes in his novels and short stories, along with a critical discussion of his writing style, technique and literary devices. Glossaries describe the people and places and define unfamiliar terms. Selected interviews provide background information on both the writer and his stories.
Download or read book Isn t Justice Always Unfair written by J. Kenneth Van Dover and published by Popular Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Isn't Justice Always Unfair? explores the uncommonly long and uncommonly rich relationship between the fictional detective and his or her South. It begins with the New Orleans expatriate, Legrand, uncovering Captain Kidd's treasure on an island off Charleston, South Carolina; it covers the satires and parodies of Mark Twain and the polished stories of Melville Davisson Post and Irvin S. Cobb; and it concludes with surveys of the many good and excellent writers who are using the form of the detective story to compose inquiries into the character of life in the South today. At the center of Isn't Justice Always Unfair? lies an analysis of a most remarkable phenomenon: William Faulkner's exploitation of the genre as an avenue into his postage stamp of Southern experience, Yoknapatawpha County.
Download or read book A Stained White Radiance written by James Lee Burke and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-01-27 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Detective Dave Robicheaux travels to the mountains of Montana to help his best friend and unearths a larger plot that threatens them both. Oil speculator Weldon Sonnier is the patriarch of a troubled family intimately bound to the CIA, the Mob, and the Klan. Now, the murder of a cop and a bizarre assassination attempt pull Detective Dave Robicheaux into the Sonniers’ hellish world of madness, murder, and incest. But Robicheaux has devils of his own—and they may just destroy the tormented investigator and the two people he holds most dear.
