Purple Cane Road

Robicheaux' history is the thing, right? Everything that happens to him is an outgrowth of some ghost or sack of bones or memory from his earlier life. But there's history and then there's history.

There are numerous short references throughout the previous books about Dave's mother - the most straight on treatment coming from [Sunset Limited], describing her flight from Louisiana and family to Hollywood, only to need money to return. But most of this story is about what happened to Dave's mother after she finally lit out for good. As a link to another set of violent acts, Dave trips onto a story about his mother's murder. Once that happens, he's on a direct line to uncover the truth and, of course, it's complicated like everything else show more about Dave. But he finally puts his mother's memory to a peaceful rest - at least, once he's cooked the culprits' bacon.

5 bones!!!!!
Highly recommended - my favorite so far along with [In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead] show less

Dave Robicheaux has spent his life confronting the age-old adage that the sins of the father pass onto the son. But what has his mother's legacy left him? Dead to him since youth, Mae Guillory has been shuttered away in the deep recesses of Dave's mind. He's lived with the fact that he would never really know what happened to the woman who left him to the devices of his whiskey-driven father. But deep down, he still feels the loss of his mother and knows the infinite series of disappointments in her life could not have come to a good end.

While helping out an old friend, Dave is stunned when a pimp looks at him sideways and asks him if he is Mae Guillory's boy, the whore a bunch of cops murdered 30 years ago. The pimp goes on to show more insinuate that the cops who dumped her body in the bayou were on the take and continue to thrive in the New Orleans area.

Dave's search for his mother's killers leads him to the darker places in his past and solving this case teaches him what it means to be his mother's son show less

I notice one of the blurbs on the book's jacket calls James Lee Burke "the Faulkner of crime fiction" and I couldn't agree more. With description as spare and terse as the notes in a police blotter Burke brings to life the haunting, corrupt beauty of southern Louisiana and the complex, morally compromised lives of the people who inhabit the borderlands between polite society and lawlessness, making a convincing argument that most of us dwell closer to the borderlands than we probably care to ackowledge. In the meantime, the plot races from one terse, heartbreaking setpiece to the next, making the story almost impossible to put down. I love how the author assumes his readers are clever enough to infer what is happening; I love how he show more never uses 10 ordinary words when 2 brilliant words (or a gorgeous simile, or a devastatingly quick flashback, often to the Vietnam War) will suffice; and I love how he challenges the reader to reflect upon what constitutes morality; but, most of all, I love becoming so vested in characters that they have the power to break my heart. By almost any definition, this is a work of literature disguised as crime fiction. show less

Probably one of the better entries in the Dave Robicheaux series; I've read eight of its ten predecessors, and I'd say this one comes in second to A Stained White Radiance. Unlike some of the Robicheaux stories, the plot is comprehensible and ties itself up neatly; the villains are believable; and the hero, though constantly in danger of going over the edge, manages (with the help of his friends) to keep from messing up his own life too distressingly. Am I damning with faint praise? I admit I'm getting weary of the formula, and would like to see Dave's family, if not Dave, have the occasional shot at a carefree day or two. And a little humor would go a long way. But let's not forget the unique virtues that Burke brings the reader, which show more include an unusual insight into the human flaws of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people, an unmatched ability to describe the peculiar natural environment of southern Louisiana, and at the root of it all, a deep love for human beings, however bad a few of them may be. show less

Burke, one of my favorite writers, has an extraordinary gift for the use of similes. He can evoke the atmosphere and scenery that sets him way above other writers in the mystery genre. Despite the brutality, violence and corruption, the story intrigues, and Burke continues to develop the character of Dave Robichaeux, ex- New Orleans cop and now homicide detective for the New Iberia Sheriff’s department. The integration of the past and its influence on the present is a recurring theme in Burke's books. Dave is trying to help Letty Labiche, a woman on death row for having murdered the man who had repeatedly molested her and her sister. That he was a cop meant the girls had little sympathy from the department. During his search for show more exculpatory evidence, Dave stumbles across Zipper Clum, a New Orleans lowlife who provides Dave with information that provideshim with leads related to the death of Dave's mother many years before. Dave, whose memories of his mother, Mae, are bittersweet, becomes obsessed with finding her murderers, cops in the pay of a local crime family, as it turns out. The investigation becomes messy, as the Labiche case becomes intertwined with his search for his mother's killers. Jim Gable, the political liaison in the governor's office with the New Orleans police department whom Dave has reason to dislike more than most, becomes implicated as does the attorney general, a woman Dave learns had connections with Labiche's parents. In the meantime, a hit man, Johnny Remeta, has taken a liking to Alifair, Dave's daughter. Johnny, too, is involved in the whole sordid mess that resolves into a climax revealing the truth of Mae's murder. Similes can often be overdone, in fact, a recent book I finished by Stuart Woods, Choke, eschewed them completely. Burke indulges in them quite successfully, and they bring a vividness to the ambiance that is quite startling; the scent of musty leaves, a fetid swamp and dank bar cascade the reader's senses. His latest book, [book:White Dove in the Morning], which I purchased and am reading as an e-book, takes place during the Civil War; historical fiction is not his usual milieu, but this is excellent. show less

I stumbled onto this book, not knowing it was part of a series featuring Louisiana Detective Dave Robicheaux. Not having read any of the other books, I have no way of knowing if the story would have been better if I had, but I found this book to be captivating and exciting. Dave lives in the small parish of Iberia with his wife, Bootsie, and daughter, Alafair. His life becomes complicated when a clever psychopath named Jimmy Remeta breezes into town to carry out a contract killing of a well-known pimp. Not only is Remeta able to escape arrest, but he also enjoys taunting the detective with knowledge of the murder of Dave’s mother, who went missing decades ago. Featuring colorful and vibrant characters, the story delves into the seedy show more side of the bayou, where every cop seems to be corrupt, and alcohol is a daily necessity to maintain sanity. The author is an accomplished writer and knows his subject. The plot sucked me in immediately and didn’t let me go until the last page. I enjoyed this tale of greed, seduction, and murder—I highly recommend it. show less

The book does a la la the bayou and la la cyprus and la la the other plants and la la the sunset to lull readers lyrical with the serenity of the southern Louisiana swamps. Then Burke hits you--with unforgiving, brutal, gotta-do-it-cause-I'm-damaged violence that takes your breath.
Wife Bootsie and daughter are marginal in this buddy duet of killing, beating, punching, and some knifing centered around the ex-drunk, post-PTSD, still detective Robicheaux and his double, the what-Robicheaux-would-have -been-except-for-being saved-by-his-wifelet, the ex-cop, still drunk, bigger-than-any-scumbag, cadillac-prowling, gumshoe friend Clete.
Burke cannot push the series any farther without having the rage destroy Robicheaux. Maybe it already has. show more So I'm wondering what the next installment will do.
And yes the mosquito-infested bogs are beautiful in Burke's writing. Makes you want to go visit. show less