Industry Reviews
"This tale plays out much like "The Glass Rainbow--"intimations of mortality; melancholic musing on the pillaging of once-Edenic South Louisiana; cathartic, guns-blazing climax--but, as always, Burke brings something new to the table . . . Dave and Clete may still be unbowed, but they are certainly broken--and all the more interesting for it."--"Booklist" (starred review) "Another stunner from a modern master."--"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) "Great news for readers who feared that Burke had left Iberia Parish Sheriff's Deputy Dave Robicheaux dying at the end of "The Glass Rainbow" (2010); Dave and his old friend Clete Purcel are back for an even more heaven-storming round of homicide, New Orleans-style. . . . A darkly magnificent treat for Dave's legion of admirers."--"Kirkus Reviews" "Gripping."--"People" Magazine "I think [James Lee] Burke is the best fiction writer in the country."--Bill O'Reilly "Burke is the reigning champ of nostalgia noir. . . . To be sure, the destruction of a pristine natural environment is a thematic staple of the regional crime novel, but nobody can touch Burke in the lyrical expression of howling grief. . . . ["Creole Belle" is] a novel that shows how the sins of the fathers poison the ground their children walk on."--"The New York Times Book Review" "Like its 18 predecessors in Burke's series, "Creole Belle" is a work of dark and radiant brilliance."--"Richmond Times-Dispatch""" "The plot is fast-moving and thriller-tough, the bodies mount quickly, and the writing is lyrical and evocative . . . as laced with complications as the canals crosscutting Robicheaux's beloved, threatened wetlands."--"New Orleans Times-Picayune" "All the characters . . . are superbly drawn, and the plot is heart-pounding . . . sure to be embraced by author James Lee Burke's fans."--"The Washington Post" "Reading James Lee Burke is a religious experience. ..."Creole Belle" may be one of Burke's best; it is certainly one of his most complex. . . . Intense doesn't begin to describe a Burke story . . . Biblical . . . now that about does it."--"San Antonio Express" "Burke weaves a rich example of his trademark bayou noir. Filled with cruelty and valor, greed and sacrifice, and surprises of the worst and best kind, "Creole Belle" is a dark but irresistible cruise."--"Tampa Bay Times" "As a crime novel, Cr"eole Belle" delivers everything fans of the genre crave, and more: a masterful tale of good, evil, organized crime and the corporate-led destruction of the once-idyllic land of the Gulf Coast. . . . [Burke] uses the modern crime novel the way a master chef uses local, organic foods to create a gastronomic feast--in this case, a classical tragedy with all the fixin's."--ShelfAwareness.com "["Creole Belle"] is a wild ride of a novel, but the true joys of Burke's novels are the exquisitely fine writing and his character's familiarity with great thinkers and theologians. . . . It is fair to say that Burke truly stands with Chandler and Hammett in the pantheon of great American crime fiction novelists."--"Asbury Park Press" "As a crime novel, "Creole Belle "delivers everything fans of the genre crave, and more: a masterful tale of good, evil, organized crime and the corporate-led destruction of the once-idyllic land of the Gulf Coast.Burke muses along at a steady pace, never hurrying, never stalling. He uses the modern crime novel the way a master chef uses local, organic foods to create a gastronomic feast--in this case, a classical tragedy with all the fixin's."--ShelfAwareness.com "Burke, 75, creates lyrical mysteries with what can only be described as deceptive ease. Whether it's Robicheaux, stand-alone novels, or separate series starring Texas cousins Billy Bob and Hackberry Holland, the themes remain constant. Every novel Burke writes delves into moral ambiguity, the menaces of greed and violence, the degradation of people and land, the juxtaposition of natural beauty and man-made horror and, finally, the sublime joy of human love and loyalty."--"The Christian Science Monitor" "Burke never goes wrong with his exquisite gift for taking us into the heart of Louisiana, its wetlands, small towns, the glory of old New Orleans and, as always, its checkered history. Combined with some of the finest characters ever to grace a page, that makes any Robicheaux novel a joy to read." "If all novelists were as thoughtful and nuanced as James Lee Burke, we could finally put to rest those groundless prejudices against genre fiction . . . the [Dave Robicheaux] books are works of dark art. At their unflinching best, they examine the cost of violence, even when it's performed in the name of justice, and the haunted worlds inhabited by those resigned to limping through life with a blood-soaked conscience."
