Burke Lee

'Hallucinatory, disturbing and utterly gripping ... Burke's beautiful prose never fails to grip heart and mind' Daily MirrorWhen a cloaked, disfigured man leaves a dead woman in a garbage bag on Dave Robicheaux's property, he knows his world and family are about to change. With Valerie Benoit, a detective new to the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department who is grappling with sexist and racist harassment from their colleagues, and the volatile but fiercely loyal Clete Purcel, Dave embarks on an investigation that brings him into the most dangerous moments of his career and threatens the lives of Valerie and his daughter Alafair. He encounters a local handyman who leaves cryptic notes and warns of the ghosts who roam the shores of the bayou and is targeted by a vicious New Orleans button man and gangsters from the north. Through brilliant prose and a quintessential cast of characters, James Lee Burke weaves a portrait of a gritty, violent Louisiana at the turn of the 20th century. Visceral, atmospheric, and wholly original, The Hadacol Boogie brings to life Dave Robicheaux's fierce determination to confront evil both past and present. ****PRAISE FOR JAMES LEE BURKE, THE AWARD-WINNING KING OF SOUTHERN NOIR: 'James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed' Michael Connelly 'A gorgeous prose stylist' Stephen King 'No argument: James Lee Burke is among the finest of all contemporary American novelists' Daily Mail'The greatest crime writer currently at work' Spectator'The reigning champ of nostalgia noir' New York Times'Masterly' Sunday Telegraph

Bestselling author James Lee Burke tells his most thrilling and insightful story yet through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Bessie Holland****At the beginning of the twentieth century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known. She finds a soulmate and mentor in a brilliant but tormented suffragette English teacher, who inspires Bessie to fight the forces of evil that permeate her world.Watching the vast Texas countryside being destroyed by an oil company and a menacing figure with a violent past, Bessie is prepared to defend her home and her family. But when she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father Hackberry, she must flee to New York. There, her older brother introduces her to boys who will grow into gangsters, but as children admire and respect Bessie''s spirit and fortitude as she is cast into a gangland that yearns for justice and mercy.A welcome return to the beloved Holland series and populated with characters both radiant and despicable, Don''t Forget Me, Little Bessie is an epic story of a remarkable young girl who fights against potentially overwhelming forces.****PRAISE FOR JAMES LEE BURKE, THE AWARD-WINNING KING OF SOUTHERN NOIR: ''James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed'' Michael Connelly ''A gorgeous prose stylist'' Stephen King ''No argument: James Lee Burke is among the finest of all contemporary American novelists'' Daily Mail ''The greatest crime writer currently at work'' Spectator ''The reigning champ of nostalgia noir'' New York Times ''Masterly'' Sunday Telegraph

Bestselling author James Lee Burke tells his most thrilling and insightful story yet through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Bessie Holland****At the beginning of the twentieth century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known. She finds a soulmate and mentor in a brilliant but tormented suffragette English teacher, who inspires Bessie to fight the forces of evil that permeate her world.Watching the vast Texas countryside being destroyed by an oil company and a menacing figure with a violent past, Bessie is prepared to defend her home and her family. But when she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father Hackberry, she must flee to New York. There, her older brother introduces her to boys who will grow into gangsters, but as children admire and respect Bessie''s spirit and fortitude as she is cast into a gangland that yearns for justice and mercy.A welcome return to the beloved Holland series and populated with characters both radiant and despicable, Don''t Forget Me, Little Bessie is an epic story of a remarkable young girl who fights against potentially overwhelming forces.****PRAISE FOR JAMES LEE BURKE, THE AWARD-WINNING KING OF SOUTHERN NOIR: ''James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed'' Michael Connelly ''A gorgeous prose stylist'' Stephen King ''No argument: James Lee Burke is among the finest of all contemporary American novelists'' Daily Mail ''The greatest crime writer currently at work'' Spectator ''The reigning champ of nostalgia noir'' New York Times ''Masterly'' Sunday Telegraph

James Lee Burke a s ním hrdina románu detektiv Dave Robicheaux se ponořili na dno psychiky zločinců. Detektiv stejně pečlivě jako důkazy zkoumá a váží i pohnutky a povahy podezřelých. Kdo vězí za náhlou smrtí několika lidí v New Iberii, malém městě v jižní Louisianě? Jaký motiv mají vraždy a jedna sebevražda? Do detektivova působiště přivane vítr mladou ženu v nesnázích. Náhodou je dcerou Daveova mrtvého přítele. Před dvaceti lety se stal svědkem jeho brutální vraždy při bankovní loupeži. Pachatelé zmizeli a tragedie osudově zasáhla i do Robicheauxova života. S detektivem šerifova úřadu se ocitnete na startu tobogánu vášně, překvapení, násilí a marné lítosti. Předehra začíná, když Trish Kleinová – jediný potomek Robicheauxova kamaráda z vietnamské války – začne platit červeně označenými stodolarovými bankovkami v místních kasinech. Je to původně hodné dítě, které se dalo na špatnou cestu? Dcera oběti, která touží po pomstě? Kráska, která chce dostat každého pořádného chlapa, který jí přijde do rány? Detektiva hlavně zajímá, co má společného s údajnou sebevraždou jiné vzorné dívky a nastávající vysokoškolačky Yvonne Darbonnové, která, jak důkazy naznačují, se před smrtí zúčastnila studentské orgie. Dave se chce vyrovnat i s vlastními démony, kteří ho přes roky, které uplynuly od kamarádovy smrti, nepřestali pronásledovat. Poctivá snaha vypořádat se s místním podsvětím, jehož nitky vedou až do New Yorku, a vysvětlit nedávná úmrtí, mu nedají nezapomenout ani na přítelova vraha, který i po letech zůstal nepotrestán? Tak se krok za krokem detektiv šerifova úřadu dostane do střetu s ambiciózním návladním, usilujícím o prozrazení vlastního jednoduchého řešení, které by mu prospělo na cestě do vysoké politiky.