I stopped by to see my friends at Tomorrow Pictures the other day. Drew was busy working with some footage from Australia down in the editing room, so rather than interrupt his train of thought I just hung out in his office and took the opportunity to browse his bookshelf, looking for something I hadn’t already read. 
Crusader’s Cross
I’m very glad he did, and thank you Drew. It’s always fun to find another author who’s work I enjoy. I’d put James Lee Burke‘s character in the same sort of genre as others I’ve recommended before; if you enjoy crawling around cleaning up the underbelly of society in Florida with John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee and Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford, you’re likely to enjoy spending time in Louisiana with Dave Robicheaux. He’s another rough-around-the-edges, no-nonsense detective with plenty of personal daemons to make things interesting.
One thing I don’t like about finding new authors’ series’ is realizing that I’ve just started in the middle. I’d rather meet the characters in the “right” order, learning about them as they grow in the author’s imagination. To save you that sort of frustration, here’s a list of the Dave Robicheaux novels and the years they were first published:
-
The Neon Rain
, 1987
Heaven’s Prisoners
, 1988
Black Cherry Blues
, 1989
A Morning for Flamingos
, 1990
A Stained White Radiance
, 1992
In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead
, 1993
Dixie City Jam
, 1994
Burning Angel
, 1995
Cadillac Jukebox
, 1996
Sunset Limited
, 1998
Purple Cane Road
, 2000
Jolie Blon’s Bounce
, 2002
Last Car to Elysian Fields
, 2003
Crusader’s Cross, 2005
Pegasus Descending
, 2006
The Tin Roof Blowdown
, 2007
Swan Peak, 2008
The Glass Rainbow, 2010
Creole Belle July, 2012
Light of the World, July, 2013
Consider that a shopping list — for yourself or a loved one who enjoys a gritty crime-fighter.
I will add to Steve’s article. the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke is excelent, it you don’t have time to read the series on dead trees, consider reading it on ‘tape’ (or CD). Recorded Books (http://recordedbooks.com) has most of the series read by Mark Hammer. When I first heard Mark Hammer begin to read my first Dave Robicheaux book I was very disappointed, but after a couple pages I began to realize that Mark Hammer’s voice was perfect for this set of books. Nobody could read them and sound like a Dave Robicheaux.
A little more about James Lee Burke (from his website), his work has been awarded an Edgar twice for Best Crime Novel of the Year.Two of his novels, Heaven’s Prisoners and Two For Texas, have been made into motion pictures. His short stories have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, New Stories from the South, Best American Short Stories, Antioch Review, Southern Review, and The Kenyon Review. His novel The Lost Get-Back Boogie was rejected 111 times over a period of nine years, and upon publication by Louisiana State University press was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.