Not Texana but by Houstonian who occasionally recalls Texas in volumes. Review from the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
James Lee Burke's Detective Dave Robicheaux heads to the wilds of Montana in his 17th novel featuring the Cajun cop
Posted by Susan Larson, Book editor, The Times-Picayune July 09, 2008 5:00AM
SWAN PEAK: A DAVE ROBICHEAUX NOVEL
By James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster, 25.95)
By James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster, 25.95)
In "Swan Peak," his latest novel featuring Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux, James Lee Burke heads for the mountains of Montana, looking for that fresh start, that respite of the spirit, always promised by the open landscapes of the American West. As usual, what he finds are heaps of trouble created by dark characters who are driven by their own violent histories, dragging their twisted ambitions along with them.
James Lee Burke, a Houston native, comes from an old Louisiana family that has bragging rights to a grand literary heritage. Members of the Burke and Dubus clan will publish five novels this year.
Dave and his wife Molly and their friend Clete Purcel have gone in search of relief from the troubles of the Gulf Coast; all are haunted by the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which Burke so beautifully rendered in 2007's "The Tin Roof Blowdown."
Clete, in particular, mourns his lost New Orleans with eloquent grace. They are staying with their friend, Albert Hollister, an English professor and writer who appeared in "A Season of Regret" in Burke's 2007 collection, "Jesus Out to Sea," and he has a weakness for the woebegone himself, which he comes by honestly after doing his own stretch of hard time. Albert's life, like Dave's, is a redemption-in-progress. "
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