Set in the bayou country of Louisiana, 'Burning Angel' by James Lee Burke blends gritty crime fiction with an understated supernatural element that is both suspenseful and entertaining. Homicide detective Dave 'Streak' Robineaux investigates a double murder that involves Sonny Marsallus, a local gambler, money-launderer, and soldier of fortune. Robineaux isn't the only one interested in Marsallus; a shadowy cadre of assassins wants Sonny dead. During his investigation, Robineaux gets sidetracked into a land dispute between the poor, black Fontenots and an upper-class attorney, Molleen Bertrand.

Burke displays a dazzling command of language and descriptive power, and his vision of the South is elegantly drawn, where ghosts of the past seem close at hand. The main characters, particularly Robineaux, Marsallus, and Bertrand are finely honed, as are the pimps, thugs, and crime lords of New Iberia.

The book only falters in the depiction of the Fontenots. Burke is keenly sensitive to the plight of this family, cast as helpless victims to malevolent external forces (in this case an amoral white overclass). Although we empathize with the Fontenots, characters stripped of free will (and thus unable to influence events) are never interesting.

Nevertheless, 'Burning Angel' is wonderfully paced and well written, and Burke's soaring prose elevates it to dizzying heights. Lost loves and family secrets haunt these characters, and as Robineaux visits the Bertrand plantation one last time, Burke closes with an epilogue that is a tour-de-force of sheer craft:

"And like some pagan of old, weighing down spirits in the ground with tablets of stone, I cut a bucket full of chrysanthemums and drove out to the Bertrand plantation...all our stories begin here--mine, Molleen's, the Fontenot family's, even Sonny's."

The story of the South begins and ends on the plantation. On this ground Burke seeks the interconnectedness of things; life begins in a lover's tryst, and ends in a graveyard, as Lee's phantom army marches through the trees. It is a remarkable gesture, a sweeping vision of life and death that lifts this book beyond its genre into something else, something that rings true in the human heart, something that we call art.

BURNING ANGEL is one of James Lee Burke's novels featuring Dave Robicheaux as a detective with the Iberia Parish sheriff's office. Robicheaux's interaction with Sonny Boy Marsallus is at the heart of the story. Sonny Boy is a shady character with a checkered past but as the story develops, he appears to be a guardian angel to Robicheaux and his family. As unsavory a character as Sonny Boy is, he seems like a choir boy when compared to the other characters Robicheaux faces. Even their names (Sweet Pea Chaisson, Emile Pogue, Johnny Polycarp Giacano) invoke images that are reinforced by Burke's descriptions and by the threats they pose to Robicheaux. Secrets emerge and lives change as Robicheaux investigates powerful people and their effect on those who have little or no power.

James Lee Burke is a best-selling author whose awards include a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize, two Edgar Awards, and the CWA/Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction. THE NEON RAIN was the first of the Robicheaux series, and Burke's series featuring Texas Ranger-turned-lawyer Billy Bob Holland began with TWO FOR TEXAS.

The author is a consummate storyteller and is a master at description. He conveys the strengths and weaknesses of the characters, both the positive people in Robicheaux's life and those who are less desirable. Burke's love of Louisiana is evident, and the geographic location is an integral part of the compelling story he tells.

Although the writing is excellent, there are weaknesses in the story line. Some events are not connected, and the reader is left with unanswered questions. Burke tells a complex story so these are minor criticisms.

When asked what he would do if he had to give up writing, Burke answered "I would never give up writing!" That's good news for readers! BURNING ANGEL is a must read for Burke's fans as well as for those who want to get to know the people and places in Iberia Parish, if only through the pages of an outstanding novel.

I've now read nine of his books. I first read Purple Cane Road. It led me to read his stories in order. I'm so glad I did. The quality of Mr. Burke's story line, narrative, and insight flow through his books. I've read hundreds of mystery, crime, thriller books. Burke's about the best! Burning Angel was a delight. I was there with Dave and Bootsie, and Clete. Makes me fear he'll stop writing; makes me want more. I want to pass him on, recommend James Lee Burke to those who have yet to discover his stories as well as his insightful references to healing, help through the friends of Bill W.

I am a great fan of Burke and his Dave Robicheaux. His fiction is, in my opinion, the most literary of the genre. In addition, his characters are wonderfully colorful, the descriptions beautiful (especially of the Louisiana landscape), and always original. That said, I think that this book is a bit formulaic, although it is very good. He seems to be pasting old themes to a character who needs some renewal. (Sorry, James, if you read this -- I think you are excellent!) Dave Robicheaux is a wonderful creation, but he needs new life. Black Cherry Blues was the finest book he wrote.

Although Burke appears to have fallen into a formulaic trap with the Robicheaux series, this entry redeems itself with its intense plotting and the carefully wrought prose his readers have come to take for granted. While the plot involves one of New Iberia's "old" families, a woman with whom Dave once had a brief fling, and New Orleans' mobsters, all familiar ingredients of past books in this series, his addition of a 28 year old murder of a civil rights leader by a crusty old misfit added zing to an otherwise tired story.

The ending seemed to forewarn of more than an end to this novel, however, perhaps an end to the series itself. Soon James Lee Burke will introduce a new character with a setting in East Texas. Alas for those of us who have come to love the Cajun detective with all of his strengths and failings. Although Burke is such an accomplished writer that his readers will no doubt learn to love the new hero as well, I will miss the people and landscape of Louisiana

I have read just about everything James Lee Burke has written, but my favorite character by far is Dave Robicheaux. This was actually the first of the Burke books I "read" (this one I actually listened to in audio as it was a gift to me -- and that alone was wonderful as the narrator had a fabulous Louisiana accent that brought the words alive). JLB's style is poetic, and the scenes he sets for you bring you right there to the Bayou with his words. He is a master at setting the scene and making you see the characters and hear their voice. His ability to spin a crime story with twists and turns, while getting you into Dave's head, his history and his love of his family are unsurpassed. Best advice regarding the Dave series: try to read them in the order written -- it helps to get a sense of time in Dave's personal life -- there are changes that occur and I was blind sided by a couple of them because I read out of order.

In this book there seems to be no notion of causality in history; Burke just meanders from person to person, invention to invention. I loved both Connections and The Day the Universe Changed on The Learning Channel, but this book did not measure up to those. I was very disappointed.

When I read the first chapter of this book, I was amazed at the way that James Burke connected so many different pieces of information, and was able to come full cirlce in his thinking at the end of each chapter. The research that went into the creation of this novel is incredible. There are thousands of fun facts that Burkes somehow found a way to relate to one another. Although the transitions from fact to fact were sometimes confusing, I learned several little tidbits of useful information, ranging from the building of the Suez Canal to the development of the air condintioner. Overall, I thought the book was fun and informative, and contained plenty of fun and wacky facts.

Circles is a wonderful collection of essays that are as well designed as written. Burke (and I have to admit being a big fan of his) does a very good job of writing about the history of science with enthusiasm bordering on the manic. Imagine sitting down with a deck of cards that contain the biographies of the major inventors of history. Shuffle them with another set of cards containing the major trends in scientific research, political movements, random sociological concepts, and an assortment of oddballs who've been edited out of mainstream history books for reasons of good taste. Deal out a hand of these cards to Burke in a random manner and sit back and wait for the essay that links them together. The results can be mixed, but even his weakest efforts here are still entertaining and interesting.

His writing is hypertensive, not just hyper-text -- sheep that make you thirsty. Picture a sheep in your mind, in a herd, in a pasture of grass, where the pasture is near mountains, tall mountains with snow covered peaks, snow that heats up in the midday sun and melts, trickling down in little creeks, flowing into rivers of cold fresh water, a mental picture of which makes you thirsty. You may not know exactly how you got there, but the ride was great fun.

Possibly the best story in the spy genre that i have ever read.

White Doves at Morning has the stark beauty and vivid imagery of all Burke's novels, but not it's strong plot. The many characters introduced are never fully developed beyond a few central personalities. No one can compare to James Lee Burke when he discribes with similes and all five senses the character's surroundings, in this novel the Cival War, but his similies wear thin in one passage as he strings one after the other and seems to lose his point. The hero of the story, Willie Burke, is in the vein of Billy Bob and Dave, heroes of Burke's two wonderful series, but one doesn't feel any greater empathy for Willie by having known him so well through Burke's other strong, defiant characters. The story ends rather abruptly and does not rap up the lose edges as cleanly as a fan of Burke's would expect. The story is a decent one if the reader does have expectations after having read Burke's other, nearly perfect novels. But a new reader of Burke should consider reading a second novel of his before judging his abilities on just this one.

The arrival on bookshelves of anything written by James Lee Burke is a reason for celebration in my household-- as well it should be, for the man is arguably the finest living craftsman of eloquent prose in America today. At my own book signings, my oft-repeated line is that I'd read a phone book written by James Lee Burke.

But I have to confess, I hesitated before taking home a copy of WHITE DOVES IN THE MORNING, Burke's most recent release. After all, it features neither Dave Robicheaux nor Billy Bob Holland; it is not a reprinting of what I consider Burke's Golden Age of fiction, the stuff he wrote in the 1960s (which still staggers, with its literary mastery) before disappearing for almost two decades.

WHITE DOVES is, rather, a Civil War novel-- not surprising, in a way, to any reader of Burke's other fiction. His fascination with both combat in general and the Civil War in particular is evident in much of his writing. Nonetheless, for the reader eagerly awaiting the next return of Streak or Billy Bob, the thought of instead plunging into a... historical novel? ...might given even the most ardent James Lee Burke fan pause.

It shouldn't. Within a half-dozen pages, it is evident that the master is in rare form here. Burke's lyrical, evocative prose quickly sweeps the reader into a story that is impossible to put down.

It helps that much of the setting is familiar ground: Burke's beloved Louisiana bayou country, specifically the New Iberia of 1861 - 65. The smells and sounds of what will, in a century of so, be Dave Robicheaux country, will be immediately recognized by any Burke aficionado, serving as a timeless land of live oaks, hanging air vines and mosquitoes buzzing in the marshland shadows.

It also helps that many of the character names we've become accustomed to in the Robicheaux chronicles are also present-- this time, as living characters who flesh out the fables and anecdotes and events that later will be passed down to Dave Robicheaux and from him, to we readers. We meet the Negro freeman and slave owner Jubal Labiche, whose skin color will make no difference to the soon-to-be-invading Yankees. We meet brothel owner Carrie LaRose and her brother, the brawling, pirate-minded Jean-Jacques LaRose, both shrewd Cajun entrepreneurs who deal in contraband and live by their own rough code of ethics. We meet Ira Jamison, whose sprawling Angola Plantation will later become Angola State Penitentiary.

And while we do, we realize that we already know their descendants, themselves familiar from the Burke/Robicheaux series: the twin Labiche daughters of another generation, one of whom will be executed for the murder of her molester; the LaRose descendant, elected Louisiana governor only to die in a last effort to save his doomed wife in a pyre that was the LaRose mansion; even the Angola Prison which is so often a key dark role in Burke's Robicheaux tales.

It is a masterful device, this intermingling of our recollections from other novels and other storylines, that in less capable hands could have failed miserably. But Burke handles it with ease, even to the point of centering the story on his own ancestor, one Willie Burke.

If there is any flaw in WHITE DOVES IN THE MORNING, it is the distinctly too-abrupt conclusion with which Burke has provided as an epilogue. Here, in a departure from the seductive rhythms, eloquence and rich characterization which Burke uses elsewhere so well, the author merely ticks off, one by one, a digest of the ultimate fates of the characters. It is a decidedly less-than-satisfactory conclusion for the reader; worse, it does a disservice to the characters in this novel. Burke's skill has turned them into living people about whom we now care.

And it is in this sole failing that WHITE DOVES IN THE MORNING gives every James Lee Burke fan a reason for optimism.

We want more than Burke's closing has left us-- far more than the brief, tantalizing, much too incomplete information on the balance of these characters, these lives. We want the author to take us back: back to antebellum New Iberia, back to these characters, back to this compelling chronicle of a time and a place that he has drawn so well.

I don't know if WHITE DOVES IN THE MORNING was intended as the first in a new, ongoing series; given the amazing talent that is James Lee Burke, I can only hope so.

Earl Merkel

The creator of David Robiceaux and Billy Bob Holland returns to historical fiction in a work set in Civil War-era Louisiana.

James Lee Burke has reached that stage where his name has become synonymous with his most successful literary creation --- David Robiceaux. Burke's Robiceaux novels have now spawned imitators and fans eagerly await the next installment in the series. In some instances, these fans become bitterly disappointed when a work bearing Burke's name on the spine does not contain a Robiceaux story therein. The series is so engrossing and well done that it is easy to forget that Burke's earliest writing dealt with other, occasionally historical, plots. In WHITE DOVES AT MORNING, he returns to that genre.

WHITE DOVES AT MORNING is a stand-alone novel, thus giving Burke freedom with his characters that he does not entirely have with the Robiceaux books or the Billy Bob Holland novels. One reads WHITE DOVES AT MORNING with no expectations other than that there will be a well-told, engrossing story. Burke has taken this freedom and run with it and, in the process, has created what might well be his finest work to date.

WHITE DOVES AT MORNING is set primarily in rural Louisiana during the Civil War and early Reconstruction. The primary characters are, as we are told, on the inside front cover, ancestors of Burke, though it is not immediately clear how much of the tale told within is family lore and how much is torn from the whole cloth of Burke's imagination. There is in all probability a healthy mix of both. Despite the change in subject matter, Burke continues the theme that runs through the Robiceaux novels --- that the rich are evil and can only transcend their circumstance with a healthy dose of guilt. This worldview, alas, is wearing rapidly thin --- there is no inherent evil in wealth, any more than there is a particular inherent nobility in poverty --- and Burke's incessant dwelling on the premise almost distracts from the beauty of his writing. Similarly, his presentation of the cause of the Civil War --- that it was fought over the issue of slavery --- is worse than simplistic; it is simply incorrect. The magnitude and beauty of Burke's writing, however, is such that one can easily suspend disbelief when encountering these issues and appreciate the beauty of this work.

The beauty and contrast within WHITE DOVES AT MORNING lie primarily in its characters. Robert Perry and Willie Burke, despite their disparities of background and opinion, join the Confederate Army while not sacrificing their principles, as well as their commitment to Abigail Dowling, a Massachusetts abolitionist who had come to Louisiana several years previously to aid in the battle against yellow fever. Burke also forms a friendship, unlikely for that time and place, with Flower Jamison, a beautiful young slave who is owned by Ira Jamison, owner of Angola Plantation and, though he refuses to admit it, Flower's father. Burke secretly teaches Flower how to read and write, an act that places both of them in danger. Flower becomes the catalyst from which much of WHITE DOVES AT MORNING proceeds. She finds herself the object of desire of Rufus Adkins, the overseer of her father's plantation and a source of unspeakable evil. Adkins and Burke, cast together in combat during the Civil War, are uneasy comrades. They wear the same uniform, but are by no means on the same side.

It is this conflict, woven throughout WHITE DOVES AT MORNING, that is the ultimate manifestation of Burke's ability to present through implication the complexity of relationships against a backdrop of social and moral difficulty. There are also passages here which bring to mind some of the best work of Cormac McCarthy, particularly when the author describes the horror of battle and its physical and emotional aftermath. The end of the war, however, does not herald the end of the terror. Burke, Flower, and Dowling find themselves caught between the conquering army of the North and the dreaded night riders --- the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia of which Adkins, ever the lowest common denominator opportunist, is a member.

WHITE DOVES AT MORNING ultimately demonstrates the rippling effect that an act of bravery and simple kindness --- in this instance, Burke's instruction to Flower in reading and writing --- can have upon people over time. Fans of Robiceaux who eschew this work simply because their favorite Cajun detective is not its prominent feature will only cheat themselves. At the same time, those who are unfamiliar with Burke's work will find WHITE DOVES AT MORNING far more than an introduction to a new author. This work, in time, will perhaps become the most highly regarded of all of Burke's efforts.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub