When kids out on the bayou see a man dragging a large black bag through Dave Robicheaux's property, they flag the detective in the New Iberia Sheriff's Office down. When Robicheaux uncovers a deceased body in the bag, he unwittingly thrusts himself into a world of buried treasure, police corruption, and mobsters. Teaming up with the determined but hot-headed Detective Valerie Benoit, the two constantly knock heads with Jerry Carlucci, a childhood friend of Robicheaux who is now anything but.
In James Lee Burke's 25th Robicheaux installment, The Hadacol Boogie hits you at a blistering pace, hitting the gates with murder and violence. Robicheaux gets pitted against other detectives, targeted by gangsters, all the while trying to protect his daughter Alafair and Clete Purcel, who continues to be one of the most intriguing characters on the page. The introduction of Valerie into his life compounds Robicheaux's struggles.
Burke's lyrical prose and picturesque ways with the pen continue to create some of the most compelling and poetic novels. The Robicheaux series continues to develop him as a character, while keeping all of the other characters that you know and love, like Alafair, Purcel, Helen Soileau, while introducing a cast of new friends and enemies. Stocked full with all of the dirty rice and po'boys you can handle, this book takes you on a roller coaster, up and down, like the yodel on Jimmie Rodgers record.
Any new James Lee Burke novel is a great one, but The Hadacol Boogie reaches new heights, cementing Burke's legacy as one of the best and most talented writers to touch pen to paper.
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Barrington Books
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