"Pegasus Descending" by James Lee Burke

Fiction and reality collide once again in this action packed and thought provoking novel by James Lee Burke. With his usual flair for tying history together with mystery, this book finds New Iberia Detective James Robicheaux involved in the 20 year old murder of a former friend during an armored car heist gone wrong. When the friend's daughter shows up in New Iberia, she brings with her a whole boatload of trouble.

A dead man is found in a drainage ditch on the side of the road, with no name or identification, and the coincidences begin to add up, leading Detective Robicheaux on a search for the truth which will take him down some of the darkest and ugliest roads of humanity. Politics, old money and outdated societal traditions fuel the story as the case leads to the murder and gang rape of a young girl. Was she killed by the local gangbangers? Or were the rich "frat" boys involved? Or, is there a connection between the two?

With the FBI looking into some of the same suspects for other crimes, Detective Robicheaux is forced into a game of cat and mouse between his own New Iberia Police Department and the Feds. With his old buddy Clete Purcel at his side, rampaging like a bull in a china closet, guess who wins?

This may be one of the most complex of the Dave Robicheaux series to date. There is virtually nothing left out of this wide ranging tale of corruption and greed. From the gambling profits of the Indian Reservations, to the televangelists who may be laundering them, and the politicians who allow these things to go on, Mr. Burke has once again written a novel which is so well grounded in the reality of our times, that it is often difficult to remember you are reading fiction.

All of the usual characters have been assembled here. There is, of course, Clete Purcel, Dave's old sidekick from the New Orleans Police Department, New Iberia Police Chief Helen Soileau, Dave's wife Molly, and Tripod, their pet raccoon. Added to the list are a wimpy District Attorney and a cast of sociopaths.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Mr. Burke's writing is his penchant for tying his plots to the applicable history which has firmly entrenched some very evil people in some of the highest positions of authority, all while waving the flag, or acting as a "shill" for the Lord.

But, against all odds, the self described "Bobbsey Twins of Vice", Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel, kick ass and take down the bad guys, bruising a few egos along the way. With the added lessons in history, as well as some insights into the human condition, James Lee Burke's novels can only be described as Mickey Spillane's "Mike Hammer" on steroids.

"Crusader's Cross" by James Lee Burke

Whenever I get fed up with the real world and all of it's attendant problems, I leave the Non-Fiction section behind and head straight to the Fiction section, usually the B's, as in Burke. The wonder of Mr. Burke's fiction is in it's reality. There are people who firmly believe that fiction is just that, fiction. But Mr. Burke knows better, there are people out there every bit as sinister and depraved as the characters he draws in his novels. I've met some of them.

When former police Detective Dave Robicheaux was a young man, back in the late 1950's, his brother Jimmie worked with him on the off shore rigs of Louisiana, making the money which would put them through college. This is where the story begins.

His brother Jimmie falls for a local girl named Ida Durbin, who saves their lives one day when they are out swimming, and they form a friendship with her. She also happens to play a mean mandolin, and sings like Kittie Wells. But when Jimmie finds out that she is a hooker, working off a debt to a local pimp, he is devastated. When she disappears, after Jimmie has confronted the pimp, offering to buy her debt, only to find himself ripped off, forces are set in motion that lead to a 20 year dead end, which suddenly opens up after a seemingly unrelated string of crimes.

When Robicheaux is re-instated as a detective in New Iberia Parish, in order to help investigate a serial killer, seemingly unrelated to the 20 year old disappearance of Ida Durbin, he joins forces with his old friend and partner Clete Purcell. What they find, when they scratch the underbelly of New Orleans, leads them to believe that Ida might not be dead after all. One thing's for sure in this action packed novel, the "Bobbsey Twins" are back, and nobody is safe until they get the answers they are looking for.

The most amazing thing about Mr. Burke's fiction is the way in which he spins his characters. They range from the seemingly normal schoolteacher type, like the women who killed for Charles Manson, to the truly sick and depraved, both of whom walk amongst us.

Long adept at exploring the dark side of man's nature, this book is no exception. As Detective Robicheaux struggles with the case itself, he is also forced to face the eternal question of just what, if any, are the differences in the motivations that drive both those who stand behind the law, as well as those who oppose it? The answer, like the underbelly of New Orleans, is neither pretty, nor simple.

Loaded with evil, sordid characters, this book will take you behind the headlines and into the world of fiction, which is where non-fiction comes from to begin with. Or is that the other way around....?

"The Hilliker Curse - A Memoir" by James Ellroy

If I were to tell you that James Ellroy, the celebrated and widely read mystery writer, used to be a Peeping Tom, a drunk, and a fantasy stalker of women you might label me crazy. And until I read this remarkable memoir by Mr. Ellroy, if you had told me these things I would have thought the same of you. But it’s all here, in black and white, written by the master of mystery himself.

James Ellroy, like so many of us, has lived a secret life for the past 50 years. We all carry demons. His parents divorced when he was very young, and at first he lived with his mother. His father was a “man about town” type who had numerous girlfriends. This is one of the things that lead to Mr. Ellroy’s parents becoming divorced.

As bad as his father may have been, his mother was no angel either. She drank to excess and gave herself to different men. All of this would affect the author deeply as he struggled through his earliest, and most impressionable, years. He is at once repulsed by, and attracted to, his mother.

As the result of an argument one night when he was about 10, he expressed his wish to go and live with his father. His mother struck him for this slight, and that set the author to wishing his mother were dead. Three months later she was murdered. Mr. Ellroy then goes to live with his father. But the effects of the divorce and murder, along with the guilt brought about by wishing his mother dead would go on to haunt, and shape Mr. Ellroy for years to come. Her name was Jean Hilliker.

Deftly taking the reader through the world of Los Angeles during the early 60’s and then on to New York and the whole country, Mr. Ellroy traces his career through the fantasies he entertained while struggling to find his niche. At one point he even breaks into houses just to touch and feel the belongings of the women he sees, but feels that he can never possess.

How he comes to terms with all of these demons and emerges as one of the most beloved of mystery writers is a story that only the author can tell. The things that lurk inside, and that drive us all, are unique to the individual. The struggle is not. This is a very courageous and honest book which explores the darkest parts of Mr. Ellroy’s life. I cannot imagine the courage it took to write it. On the other hand I cannot imagine the pain that he carried secretly for so long.