This is a bitter-sweet book that should go far in convincing people of all races of the existence of a cadre of educated and capable progressive Black people in South Carolina during reconstruction. The sadness is that the white power structure extinguished this at the end of Reconstuction with a segregated Jim Crow society unseen before in South Carolina. This book will go far to extinguish the myth of crude unschooled Blacks manipulated by northern carpetbaggers to "rule" the state after the Civil War. The African-Americans who were able to gain a foothold on the American Dream during this period were to become the nucleus of the civil rights movemement in the US. Given a less pig headed white power structure, racial tensions of the past century might have been avoided.

I've always needed a book where the whole recipe for producint a melodrama was in a single book. The ingredients to producing a melodrama is contained in this book. Name it!!! All of the sheet music needed to add the tunes to your show. Jokes and gags! Even the history. If you want to be a villain, heroine or hero, this book is for you. (You can even get it in tape or CD form from Pioneer Drama Service, Inc. They're the real publisher!)

This book is well worth buying. I had the pleasure of learning from these gentlemen in dental school and highly reccomend there book. It is concise and easy to read, it provides a solid foundation in periodontics.

This book offers exercises, explanation and examples of a transformative approach to radical social change. While I believe it is out of print, I will keep recommending it to anyone who's working on issues of oppression and organizational change within their movement.

Dr. Blakmore's analysis of these political writings is very insightful. He uncovers the intertextual conflicts, in particular between Burke and Wollstonecraft, and provides an indepth literary analysis of both. His diction is sofisticated, yet approachable to an average student of 18th Cent. Literature. A must read for anyone interested in the political philosophy of the Age of Englightment.

What an exquisite book! Not only is it an informative and interesting read, but it made me want to move to Taos and take up oil painting! In fact, I'm signing up for painting classes this week! The plates are magnificent, and the subject matter, Taos, and Taos Pueblo Indians, are filled with beauty and dignity from a time gone by. Highly recommended for all lovers of the Southwest, native cultures, and landscape and oil paintings.

I had just about given up on James Lee Burke. After being stunned with the genius of "Neon Rain," I found most contemporary Dave Robicheaux novels rather gloomy and over-described affairs. Went back to "Black Cherry Blues" his Edgar-winning novel and was disappointed. Now, I feel I've read another gem. I am doubly pleased because from reading and seeing interviews, I think James Lee Burke is one of the most charming authors around.

"A Morning for Flamingos" begins with the death of Dave's partner while transporting two prisoners, Te Beau, a New Iberia boy to whom Dave has certain obligations, and the menacing Jamie Lee Boggs. Dave is left critically wounded and remembers little of the actual escape. The story leads to underworld figures, voodoo, and the sordid, steamy underside of New Orleans.

The pace and brooding menace never let up, and Burke allows no loose ends to annoy the reader. The characterizations are sharp, descriptive, and unforgettable. The solution is elegant and exciting. I liked Dave all over again.

This is, without a doubt, one of the better of the Dave Robicheaux novels. As always, James Lee Burke writes with a lyrical grace that should awe the average reader. And this early novel was written before he started plagiarizing himself wholesale, stealing plots, characters and even entire paragraphs in order to flesh out his balletic swamp-songs.

A black mark on this otherwise fine novel is the odd decision to have Dave go undercover in the home of Mobster Tony Cardo, a razor-edged freak of a man living on the outlines of his own criminal organization. Personally, if I were a crook, I'd never accept an ex-cop into my home, but maybe that's just me - the fact is that tony does and that's how this rollicking book gets going.

It's not important that there's any more plot than that - in a Burkle novel, the setting is the most important element. As always, Burke paints pictures and only incidentally places characters and action within them, with the exception of Dave Robicheaux himself. I have always admired Dave - he is morally ambiguous and righteously angry, which causes him to behave in ways that are almost as freakish as Tony Cardo's ways. An example is dave's heroism at the climax of this novel - it's both awe-inspiring and breathtaking, but it's probably not what I wold have done in the same situation.

Burke is an amazing writer and a good story-teller. He's not a bad painter, either.

Being a Southern California-based mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I realize that there is quite a bit of debate about which crime fiction author best captures the ambience of my native SoCal. There is no debate involving Louisiana. James Lee Burke is clearly the master, and I believe A MORNING FOR FLAMINGOS is Burke's strongest work. Dave Robicheaux is left for dead during a prison escape, yet he doesn't die. He ends up back on the New Iberia police force going after a drug-kingpin named Tony Cardo. Clete Purcel tags along to guard Robicheaux's back, and they wouldn't mind catching up with the man who nearly killed Robicheaux. A MORNING FOR FLAMINGOS has a marvelous plot and well-drawn characters. Reading this book is like visiting that fabulous state of mind known as Louisiana.

After a couple of lackluster novels that proved disappointing to his fans James Lee Burke has re-emerged as the most exciting and serious writer of popular fiction in America. Purple Cane Road, the new entry in his Dave Robicheaux series, proves to be one of his best ever. No one handles descriptive writing like Burke and while in some of his books the lush descriptive passages tend to overpower the plot, in Purple Cane Road all the elements are in balance. With a tight and complex plot, as well as a really fascinating cast of characters, this novel never loses focus and keeps the reader's attention to the very last page.

For long term fans of the series there are some special pleasures. The confrontations between Dave and his now adolescent adopted daughter, Alafair, have an absolute ring of truth that anyone who has had to live with a teenager will recognize. And another regular character of the series, Clete Purcel, finally gets his chance to shine. Purcel, who does for Robicheaux what Robert Parker's Hawk does for Spenser - provide the occassional dose of serious violence to the bad guys and serve generally as back-up man and old friend, expands his regular role to include a fateful love affair with another of the characters. It is a side of Clete not shown before and makes him all the more interesting and human. And at the heart of the story is the mystery of the disappearance of Dave's mother when he was a child - an old theme that has emerged in Burke's books before but was never central to the plot until this one. Dave, who is always preoccupied with his past, has a chance to solve this mystery and put some of his personal ghosts to flight.

All in all this was a wonderful reading experience and I would highly recommend this book both to those who know Burke's writing and especially to those who have never experienced him.

Well, what a ride! PURPLE CANE ROAD is probably James Lee Burke's best Dave Robicheaux novel yet. That statement comes without qualification because I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the books in this series.

All the characters you have come to look forward to reading about are back again. There's Dave, Clete Purcell, Bootsie, Helen Soileau, Alafair and Batist. Even Tripod, Alafair's three legged pet racoon is still in the cast.

What Burke does exceptionally well with this novel is introduce more interesting characters to the mix. The story also deals with obsession(s) as Dave tries to clear a woman on Death Row while finding out who killed his mother more than 30 years before.

The violence that punctuates all of the novels in this series is also present here as well. Most noticeably, Clete Purcell, Dave's loyal former partner and always best-friend, seems to find more than his fair share of it. His excessive drinking and intemperate remarks and lifestyle continue in PURPLE CANE ROAD and it is during the moments when we read of these events that JLB interjects much of his pathos and humor. Clete is an extremely violent man, but it is also good to know that he is primarily on the side of right. God help the people of Louisiana if he were ever to cross over to the criminal side of the spectrum.

Dave Robicheaux is obssessed by the need to find out who killed his mother Mae in 1967. Readers of this series will remember that Dave's mother abandoned him for a bouree dealer when she left while Dave was still a small boy. As a grown man and a police officer, Dave struggles to do right by her memory by re-opening the unsolved 30 year old case. Along the way, he runs into the string of sociopaths that Burke is so fond of populating this series with.

All is not right in New Iberia Parish or in New Orleans, either. Cops and politicians are dirty and corrupt and James Lee Burke fully fleshes out the parasites who feed off power, money and the misfortune of others. This is a well-crafted and believeable novel, right through to the very end. When Burke leads the reader to the end of his story, there is a certain type of closure that Dave and the reader both receive. When the reader stops to consider the final outcome of the plot line, he/she will also realize that there is a certain balance to the scales of justice after all.

This was a fast read and the story gripped me right from the beginning. Unlike some of Burke's other books in this series, which start out slowly and speed up, this one asks the reader to climb aboard while the train is traveling down the track at 100 mph. When I finish these books, I wonder when Burke will bring us his next installment. This one left me thirsty for more on the detective and his cohorts in New Iberia, LA.

After reading PURPLE CANE ROAD, you'll never have to ask why James Lee Burke is one of only two authors to win the EDGAR AWARD twice. This man is a master of his craft and this book just proves it.

Paul Connors

James Lee Burke takes his readers to the swampy, backwoods of Louisiana in his latest Dave Robicheaux mystery, Purple Cane Road. Detective Dave Robicheaux never knew what became of his mother, Mae Guillory, after she left him behind as a boy. Last he knew, she was living with a slick, smooth-talking wheeler and dealer named Mack. But now, thirty years later, Robicheaux is stunned to hear that his mother may actually have been a prostitute who was brutally murdered by local law enforcement officials. Determined to uncover the truth about his mother's murder and track down her killers who may still be alive and on the job, Robicheaux takes on his most dangerous, and precarious case yet. To add to the complexity of the story, Robicheaux is also simultaneously investigating the murder of an executioner who was slain by a young woman named Lettie Labiche. Ms. Labiche herself is on death row awaiting lethal injection, but Robicheaux knows for a fact that the man that she killed molested her as a child. Somehow Robicheaux must come up with some concrete evidence proving this, thus saving the life of Lettie Labiche. All in all, the past, present, and future come colliding together to explode into an electrifying drama.

James Lee Burke has a knack for capturing the rawness and gritty attitude of the "good ole' boy" network of the Deep South. What makes this story so engrossing is the realism of its theme. Who knows what goes on behind the closed doors of legal authorities? In Purple Cane Road, the men and women of uniform will use any means necessary to cover each others backs. They will lie, cheat, maim, and even slaughter if they see it justified. If you are looking for a dark crime novel with psychological suspense that has you sitting on edge, then Purple Cane Road may be the book you've been waiting to curl up with.

This is the third book in the Dave Robicheaux series and, once again, it fairly drips with melancholy as Dave is still gripped with guilt and remorse over the death of his wife. Fortunately, this mood is tempered by his adopted daughter Alafair, who he first took care of in Heaven's Prisoners. She has provided a spark for his affections and has bestowed on him a much needed reason t act more responsibly.

Dave is drawn into danger, which in turn endangers Alafair, after a chance meeting with an old college room-mate named Dixie Lee Pugh, who is now a washed up jazz musician. Dixie Lee feels he is in some trouble after overhearing a couple of men discussing a murder and wants Dave to investigate. He only actually becomes involved after failing to control his temper which lands him in trouble with the law. To get himself out of this trouble he moves temporarily to Montana which is the setting for the bulk of the story. He takes Alafair with him rather than leaving her with his relatives, underlining his new found sense of responsibility.

James Lee Burke does a wonderful job of capturing the mood of a setting and incorporating it into the story. The Louisiana setting of this and his earlier books proved his affinity with the area with special highlights given to the cuisine. A new facet was uncovered be his wondrous descriptions of the Bitterroot Valley and surrounding locales in Montana.

Having now read the first three books in the Dave Robicheaux series I've found that my appetite for more has been whetted. His forthright style and general toughness in the face of adversity makes him a character who is easy to cheer for.

James Lee Burke has written a wonderful novel in this one. The characters are tough and full of vitality. As always his locations are so well portrayed you feel,see, taste and smell the details. Robicheaux, the ex-cop is coping with the murder of his wife, his service in Vietnam, being a recovering alcoholic, he is being blamed for a murder and he fears for the life of his adopted daughter. He is on the run from New Orleans to beautiful Montana. This is a wonderful book that surprises you with Robicheaux's philosophy. "...because I believe that God is not limited by time and space as we are, I believe that perhaps he can influence the past....and I begin to dwell on the unbearable suffering that people probably experienced before their deaths,I ask God to retroactively relieve their pain, to be with them in mind and body, to numb their senses, to cool whatever flame licked at their eyes in their final moments." James Lee Burke can stun you with his craft. This is a must read!

Over and above anything else, the first thing that struck me about James Lee Burke's 'Black Cherry Blues' was the quality of the writing. Burke has an incredibly ability to beautifully describe his settings, making small town Louisiana and rural Montana vividly real to the reader. His descriptions are so good that I would often have to suppress the urge to have a late night snack after having my appetite whet when reading about something so basic as what Dave and his daughter made for dinner. Take away the whole suspense/mystery/thriller aspects of this novel, and it would almost still be worth reading just for Burke's descriptive abilities.

The plot itself is the classic 'innocent man falsely accused' story. Dave Robicheaux, who is trying to live a quiet, simple life running a boat dock/bait shop and raising his daughter in New Iberia, LA, begrudgingly helps out an old college friend who is involved with some unscrupulous individuals. This leads to a series of events involving ominous threats towards Dave's daughter, Alafair, and culminates in Robicheaux being accused of a murder he didn't commit. The majority of the book takes place after Robicheaux heads to Montana to attempt to clear his name before his trial begins.

Burke seems to take great care in formulating his plot to make sure all his bases are covered. One small thing he did in this book that I really appreciated was to actually attempt to logically explain some of those bizarre coincidences that happen so often in suspense novels that immediately take me out of the novel because they come off as so unrealistic. There is a scene in 'Black Cherry Blues' that is reminiscent of many thrillers, where a character is a second of two from having a knife stabbed into his chest, but is saved when somebody 'happens' to walk in just at the right time. Many authors just take if for granted the readers will actually buy this, when my usual reaction is 'yeah, right'. Burke, on the other hand, actually takes this thriller cliché and gives a logical, believable explanation as to why this person knew to be where he was at exactly the right moment. This kind of care is taken throughout the book.

If I were to nitpick I would say that I was sometimes confused by Robicheaux's behavior, in that at times he seemed like someone who genuinely wanted to lead a peaceful life, and then would knowingly behave in a way that would get him into trouble with the wrong people. To be fair, if I had read the previous two Dave Robicheaux novels in the series (and after the quality of 'Black Cherry Blues' I fully intend to) perhaps I would have had a better understanding of his character and personality.

The good news is that James Lee Burke is still writing some of the most lyrically beautiful prose in fiction today. The bad news is that, at least with this Robicheaux outing, he seems to have lost a little of his focus as a storyteller. The middle section of the book has Robicheaux so self absorbed in his own problems I couldn't quite remember what crime he was supposed to be investigating. Far too many characters with hidden secrets and agendas of their own weave in and out of the tale with such regularity that it becomes a little difficult to keep them all straight. While each of these characters are equally compelling they tend to keep the narrative from running on an even keel.

As to Legion Guidry.... I'm still not quite sure what to make of him just yet. On the one hand he is indeed one of the most interesting and evil villains I've seen in a work of fiction for quite some time. On the other hand I kept thinking that maybe Dave should have rung up Buffy Summers and asked her and the rest of the gang to come to New Iberia and help him out with this one. The mixture of metaphysics and gritty crime story worked well for Burke with "In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead" but I'm still not decided on this one just yet.

In the end I have to say that if you are already a Burke fan, then by all means read this one. If you are new to Dave Robicheaux and his world I strongly suggest one of the earlier novels. I decided to give four stars to this one due to Burke's wonderful prose and his creation of such facsinating characters but I still think that the rambling mid section does not represent the author at his best.

To categorize this book as a mystery is like clumping Haagen-Daz in the same category as cheap sherbet. Sorry. Not the same thing. These characters are alive and fresh and memorable. The settings resonate with sights and sounds and smells. The beauty of Louisiana juxtapositioned with the evil of the criminal world is a heady mix. As always, I'm impressed by Burke's ability. I feel like I'm repeating myself: James Lee Burke is a master of imagery, be it violent and dark, or moving and poetic. I can't help myself. To read his work is to fall in love with the language. With this in mind, it's true that I tend to overlook his meandering plots and psychological side-trips. For me, they make his books much more real and down to earth than the general formulaic mysteries.

In this particular story, we see Dave Robicheaux dealing with his inner demons, as always--this time in the form of pills. But it's the same white worm eating at him and driving anger to the surface. As usual, his emotions boil over into his job and cause trouble. The difference this time is that Robicheaux is dealing with other demons than his own. He's dealing with Legion, an old man, hard as nails and full of darkness. The supernatural aspects that come into play, particularly at the conclusion were, for me, very satisfying and remarkably well handled. Other reviewers have derided these elements; I found them to be the original touch this series needed. Others complained of sexual situations that were unnecessary; I was moved to tears by Bootsie's tenderness to her man in need of assurance. Robicheaux, behind his tough exterior, is a man of flesh and blood and emotion. Thankfully, James Lee Burke is too. It's the reason I keep reading his stuff. After "Purple Cane Road," I'd rate this near the top of the series.

This novel will probably get mixed reviews, but I think it is a must read for anyone who appreciates the humane vision which has developed in Burke's remarkable string of novels. It is a bit difficult to determine where this book fits into the extensive Robicheaux world which the author has created. It does not demonstrate the dash of earlier novels, nor the deep personal introspection of very recent works. The novel opens with a rape-murder, and characters begin the inevitable hunt for a "why." The plot suggests that the irrational force of a generational working out of evil is as strong a motive for crime as many sociological reasons. In his recent novel, Purple Cane Road, Burke presented a view back into Dave Robicheaux' formative youth; this novel at hand is not so concerned with biographical psychology. Yet it continues Burke's exploration of how one lives in a world created not just by one's own past but by the entangling strands of historical circumstance. It seems the author has expanded his purpose past this complex character to a more extensive world.
This is a well made work. The mystical musings of Electric Mist are here also, along with historical trappings( a Confederate Battle Flag in its glass case) associated with important characters. The cast is an ecclectic lot: a character whose life has been incarnated evil, a bible salesman who drags his case of wares on a skate, and a homeless vet; all of whom mingle with familiar New Orleans underworld and New Iberia "courthouse square" types in a dark novel posing deeper questions about violence than the "bon temps" attitude of earlier novels. Ironic situations and pairings of characters abound as individuals' purposes lead to momentary alliances constucting a textured plot. This is a philosophical piece, but bayou descriptions, and other telling moments ( for example, the sheriff tapping the heels of his hands on his desk chair as he confronts Dave)are admirable craftsman's work.
It is clear that Burke does not intend his hero to live changeless, spending endless days bream fishing, to be called out from his party for a caper or two. Far from being a formula hero, Dave Robicheaux, in his growing understanding of his moral response to life's changes is a touchstone for readers' emotions and actions. After all, Alafair is off to college.