Burke

I like to think that newspaper reporters are a little bit like detectives. Like detectives, we interview people to get at the truth, follow paper trails to see where the facts may lead us and view the world with a certain amount of jaded skepticism. (Unlike detectives, fortunately for us, we almost never get shot at.)

That’s probably one reason I enjoy a good mystery yarn.

One of my favorite mystery writers is James Lee Burke. I’ve read all 23 of Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels — some more than once — and I hope he’ll give us a few more before he’s through. Robicheaux is an ex-New Orleans cop-turned-sheriff’s detective in a small Louisiana town, where he encounters no shortage of mysteries to unravel.

A deeply conflicted hero tormented by alcoholism, a penchant for violence and ghosts out of the past (both personal and historical), Robicheaux is redeemed by a bedrock decency and an unwavering commitment to justice as he navigates a Deep South culture that is still defined by old racial divisions and class structures even as it struggles with all the challenges of modern living.

What elevates these books above the ordinary, however, are Burke’s tremendous gifts as a writer. His lyrical prose brings the Louisiana bayous to life with vivid descriptions that draw on all five senses as his troubled hero grapples with themes of individual sin, collective guilt and personal redemption that are way above a detective’s pay grade.

If you’re looking for an engaging literary mystery, James Lee Burke is your man.

— Bennett Hall, editor, Blue Mountain Eagle