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Fiction / Literature | Dell | Paperback | July 1999 | $7.50 | 0-440-22398-9 In a land soaked with sin, Dave Robicheaux is dueling with killers, ghosts, and a woman's revenge.... The townspeople of New Iberia, Louisiana, didn't crucify Megan Flynn's father. They just didn't catch whoever pinned him to a barn wall with sixteen-penny nails. Decades later, Megan, now a world-famous photojournalist, has come back to the bayou, looking for cop Dave Robicheaux. It was Dave who found the body of labor leader Jack Flynn. The sight changed the boy, shaped him as a man. And after forty years, Robicheaux is still haunted by the bizarre unsolved slaying. Now Megan's return has stirred up the ghosts of the long-buried past, igniting a storm of violence that will rip apart lives of blacks and whites in this bayou county. And for a good cop with bad memories, hard desires, and chilling nightmares, the time has come to uncover the truth. "Splendidly
atmospheric...with dialogue so sharp you can shave with it." "One
of the best novels of the year from one of the very best writers
at work today." "Engrossing...a
vivid, violent fable...James Lee Burke outshines himself in Sunset
Limited." "America's
best novelist." "Top-drawer
work...James Lee Burke just keeps getting better...Burke writes
of the bayous, their people and their violence with electrical luminescence.
The dialogue crackles like heat lightning and the story races from
conflict to conflict. Robicheaux, a modern-day tragic hero, continues
to grow as one of crime fiction's major figures." "Burke's
dialogue sounds true as a tape recording; his writing about action
is strong and economical. . . . Burke is a prose stylist to be reckoned
with." --Los Angeles Times Book Review "Burke flies miles above
most contemporary crime novelists."
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Fiction / Literature | Dell | Paperback | July 2000 | $7.50 | 0-440-22401-2 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. "Burke
is a master at setting mood, laying in atmosphere, all with quirky,
raunchy dialogue that's a delight." "Billy
Bob Holland is as angst-ridden and morally shell-shocked as Dave
Robicheaux ever was, but like Robicheaux, Holland's moral compass
always points to true north...Don't miss out." "Burke [is] one of the best writers of our time. His plots build tension to such a pitch that it tempts one to rush through his books. But his writing demands that his works be savored." --Denver Post "Burke
is known for the lush bayou cadences that give solid flesh to his
longtime series hero, deputy sheriff Dave Robicheaux, and this prose
style moves easily to the steamy precincts of southeast Texas."
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