Bookshelf

James Lee Burke's first post-Katrina novel featuring bayou-born Dave Robicheaux, "Tin Roof Blowdown" was a disappointment. The "blood diamonds" angle looked like a desperate attempt to be "relevant." The story just never took off.
Wisely, Burke takes his key charcters, Dave and wife Molly and the human hurricane Clete Purcel, to Montana for a badly needed vacation from the Big Sleazy. And while the trip may not turn out like the characters had in mind, the change in locales seems to have free up Burke's storytelling.
"Swan Peak," is the name of the new one and it is a terrific read. Newcomers to the Robicheaux series will like it, and fans will rate it even higher.
"Swan Peak" is jam packed with an array of heroes and villains and villians who come to act heroically.
Dave and Clete, as is their way, stumble into a series of grisly killings and soon they are neck deep in murder and mayhem. Included for your grisly pleasure are a rapist-prison guard, a serial killer, a peckerwood psycho, an escaped convict, a phony pastor and a corrupt and ruthless family of religious charlatans. Even a bad guy long thought to be disposed of makes a surprising reappearance (or does he?)
The book is jam full of action and plot, but as always Burke takes the time to paint some beautfiul pictures of the scenery. His love for Montana, where the author has a second home, is clear.
Burke's Robicheaux remains as grim and humorless as Clete is wild and irrepressable. Alone for too many pages, they can begin to annoy, but teamed up and on the hunt the "Bobbsey Twins from homocide" are an irrestible pair.
It's a dirty boogy novel and I mean that in the best way possible.