Crusader's Cross

Starred review from June 6, 2005
Superb writing and a throbbing pace lift two-time Edgar-winner Burke's powerful, many-layered 14th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2003's Last Car to Elysian Fields
), which involves venal and arrogant members of a wealthy family that can trace its lineage to fifth-century France as well as the machinations of the New Orleans mafia. A conversation between Robicheaux and a dying childhood friend about Ida Durbin, a young prostitute that Robicheaux's half-brother, Jimmie, loved and lost in the late 1950s, sets the ex-homicide detective on a path that eventually leads to several gruesome killings and his near downfall. Unemployed, his wife dead, his daughter in college, Robicheaux rejoins the New Iberia, La., sheriff's department at the urging of Sheriff Helen Soileau, who needs an extra hand as the murders mount. While the tendrils of the sometimes rambling plot unfold, Robicheaux and his impulsive former police partner, PI Clete Purcell, seek retribution for injustices caused by a wide range of corrupt villains. Burke masterfully combines landscape and memory in a violent, complex story peopled by sharply defined characters who inhabit a lush, sensual, almost mythological world. Agent, Philip G. Spitzer.

May 15, 2005
Dave Robicheaux ("Last Car to Elysian Fields") has always been haunted by the past, so it's no surprise that the past collides with the present in this 14th novel featuring one of fiction's greatest characters. When Dave and his brother, Jimmie, were teenagers, Jimmie fell hard for a young prostitute who was trying to get out of the business and who vanished soon after. Almost half a century later, a dying man whispers the woman's name to Dave, and soon Jimmie is out searching for her, with Dave unwillingly assisting in the pursuit. At the same time, Dave is tracking down a serial killer, trying to limit his involvement with a wealthy family who seems to have it out for him, and becoming romantically involved with a local nun. Never one to avoid trouble or confrontation, he manages to juggle all these complications in his own ham-handed, well-intentioned way. The story is a little crowded, but Burke's well-drawn characters and evocative writing more than compensate. Another winner from a master writer, this is recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 3/1/05.] -Craig Shufelt, Lane P.L., Oxford, OH

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2005
(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)