Last Car to Elysian Fields

Starred review from August 11, 2003
Homicide detective Dave Robicheaux is pitted against a handsome, urbane war hero of a bad guy instead of the typical obscenely grotesque villain in this latest installment of Burke's stellar series, set in New Iberia, La. It's a shift in adversaries that forces Robicheaux to take a different tack than his usual uncontrolled tilting at the windmills of elusive justice. As in many of Burke's novels (A Stained White Radiance; In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead), current felonies are tied to a crime from the past. Here, Dave's friend Father Jimmie Dolan is being stalked by Irish hit man Max Coll; linked to this intrigue is the story of blues singer Junior Crudup, who entered the hell of Angola Penitentiary in the 1950s and was never heard from again. In present-day New Orleans, three teens die in a fiery crash after buying drinks at a drive-by daiquiri stand. Porn star Gunner Ardoin takes a beating from Dave's sidekick, Clete Purcel, who wreaks his usual havoc. Mysterious lady cop Clotile Arceneaux keeps popping in with advice, and a minor thug, Jumpin' Merchie Flannigan, is married to Robicheaux's old girlfriend Theodosha. These are just a scant few of the characters and subplots that thicken the deep and complex gumbo of Burke's story. The writing is beautiful, as always, laced with the author's signature descriptions: "the sepia-tinted light in the trees and on the bayou seemed to emanate from the earth rather than the sky." This is an outstanding entry in an excellent series. (Sept. 23)Forecast:A multi-city book tour should get the word out and help nudge Burke up a notch on bestseller lists.

The rough edges of James Lee Burke's story and Mark Hammer's voice make a fine pair. The Louisiana bayoux breed more trouble for Detective Dave Robicheaux. He digs up long forgotten crimes involving a blues musician and follows a twisting path to contemporary injustices, corruption, and deceit as mobsters and an IRA hit man make forays to New Iberia. Poor sound quality mars Hammer's fine inflective reading. Despite the muzzy sound, which ALMOST lends atmosphere, Hammer's rendition of the Louisiana misfits and miscreants is right on. The sound is distracting but not ruinous. And through it all, Burke's magical, descriptive prose flows freely--"like stars in a black rain barrel." R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

October 1, 2003
Violence, death, and terrific prose are abundant in the 13th entry of Burke's Dave Robicheaux series. Robicheaux's friend Father Jimmie Dolan has been working to stamp out immoral behavior in the New Iberia area, including among the large businesses there. Unfortunately, he's made enemies of powerful people, and now he's the target of an unbalanced assassin. For protection he moves in with Robicheaux, and all hell breaks loose. Besides guarding Jimmie, Dave also has a murder to solve, an accident to investigate, a crazy best friend to deal with, and a married ex-lover with whom he seems to be contemplating involvement. And at the root of this mess is the apparent disappearance of a black convict 50 years ago, a mystery that Dave must solve for current events to make sense. While the crowded story isn't on par with the best involving Robicheaux, Burke again writes with the touch of a master. Recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/03.]-Craig Shufelt, Lane P.L., Oxford, OH

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2003
Change comes slowly to Cajun country, but it comes just the same. Dave Robicheaux, hero of Burke's long-running series, has been struggling with that fact for years, watching his beloved New Iberia invaded by everything from mobsters to Wal-Mart. This time the change is more personal. Dave's second wife, Bootsie, has died from lupus; his daughter is away at college; and his house on Bayou Teche has burned down. Adrift, Robicheaux is even more of a loose cannon than usual, and all it takes to light his fuse is the death of three teenagers, killed in a car accident after being served illegally at a drive-by dacquiri stand. Soon Dave is knee-deep in a murky swamp of tangled motives and secret history that extends from the dead girls through a maverick priest, a crazed assassin, and a blues guitarist who disappeared from Angola Prison in the '40s. It is the musician's story that gives the novel its freshness, as Burke seamlessly connects past and present while re-creating the horrors of the legendary Louisiana prison farm and evoking the power of the doomed guitarist's art. Change is inevitable, Robicheaux keeps learning, and, no, it isn't 1950 anymore. And yet, the past isn't dead, either, as voices from the grave keep singing to us, blind to the shadow of Wal-Mart. Burke is, above all, an elegiac poet; his sweeping, lyrical sentences give life to the dead and make living worthwhile for the Robicheaux in all of us.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)