Sunset Limited Book

James Lee Burke's rural Louisiana cop, Dave Robicheaux, is a haunted man--haunted by his past in Vietnam and the New Orleans Vice Department; but also haunted, sometimes literally, by the ghosts of bad faith and betrayal that pervade his backwater beat. Burke has a seemingly endless ability to make the return of chickens to their roost seem new each time. This is partly because of his real understanding of the power structures of Louisiana crime and politics and partly because the dry alcoholic Robicheaux convincingly inhabits an interior moral universe in which all actions have consequences and there will always be some sort of payback, even after decades. Labour organiser Flynn was crucified by the Klan when Robicheaux was a child; photographer Megan Flynn and her director brother Cisco are back in town and have not forgotten a thing. Other troubles are also brewing--the FBI is trying to pressure a black thief into turning on the Mafia dons he has successfully defrauded by leaving him in the hands of a corrupt and brutal local jailer, and, incongruously, two rednecks are wanted for the vigilante killing of the unconvicted white rapists of a black teenager. Robicheaux scents disaster, and as usual, is underestimating the situation's potential. Winner of the CWA Macallan 1998 Gold Dagger Award for Fiction, Sunset Limited is written with depth and elegance, and Robicheaux is one of the most engaging investigators in the business. --Roz KaveneyRead More