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232nd out of 3,396 books
—
7,819 voters
In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead (Dave Robicheaux #6)
Hunting a sadistic killer who targets young prostitutes, Detective Dave Robicheaux has no mind to be sidetracked into persuading ex-schoolmate mobster Julie 'Baby Feet' Balboni to leave town. And it turns out that Balboni is the money behind a Civil War movie that's bringing in good business. But then the film crew stumble on a skeleton out in the bayou, and the links bet...more
344 pages
Published
(first published 1993)
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I discovered Burke by accident. A librarian in the small southern community college where I was teaching told me, "You must read him Ed." So, I did. This particular Burke selection plot gets a bit choppy at times, but the characters all come to life. Burke's protagonist (Dave Robicheaux) is a southern Louisiana Sheriff. He is a dry drunk, and that is not an easy thing to do in southern Louisiana. Anyhow, in this caper he gets mixed up with a pimp, a hollywood movie production (filming in the bay...more
Jul 09, 2012
Dermott Hayes
added it
James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels are never 'typical' crime novels. First, there's Robicheaux, a disgraced, former NOPD Homicide lieutenant turned sheriff's detective in Iberia Parish. Robicheaux is a good man with a chequered past; a Vietnam veteran and recovering alcoholic who carries traces of post-traumatic stress disorder and an unspecified, but lingering, guilt from the eruption of his parents' marriage, his father's death and his mother's violent murder at the hands of corrupt, NOP...more
I changed my rating from 3 stars to 4, because this thriller has stuck with me in a way that others don't. I could have done with fewer plot lines and the strain it took to make them interconnect, especially in the final chapters. Yet, I'm haunted (just like some of the characters) by Burke's descriptions of the southern Louisiana landscape, not only visual images, but the sounds and even smells that characterize it. The novel is also deeply rooted in the region's history, from the days of the C...more
this will be the 2nd burke for me. the 1st a month or so ago...what was it? the one w/the cross on the cover....feast day of fools...kindle, that one, this one is a paperback...though the cover on mine is different.
this one looks to be from 1993...does not sound like a first, obviously not the last. onward and upward
update: tuesday morn, the 3rd...finished.
good story. i liked the use of the confederate dead, ghosts from the past. set in louisiana...a movie being made nearby, different breeds of...more
this one looks to be from 1993...does not sound like a first, obviously not the last. onward and upward
update: tuesday morn, the 3rd...finished.
good story. i liked the use of the confederate dead, ghosts from the past. set in louisiana...a movie being made nearby, different breeds of...more
Dave, Dave, Dave. Your moral compass seems to move constantly depending on the circumstances. The inner demons never go away either so you're in a constant battle with yourself. Maybe easing up on yourself would help? Perhaps, but probably not. And how would you do that anyway? A psychiatrist couch? That's not going to happen.
Thank god for Alafair and Bootsie who help you keep the hands on the moral compass in the green area and out of the red and yellow although sometimes they can't even help...more
Thank god for Alafair and Bootsie who help you keep the hands on the moral compass in the green area and out of the red and yellow although sometimes they can't even help...more
4 likes · like · see review
In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead, by James Lee Burke. A.
Borrowed from the Library for the Blind, talking book. Available on Audible.com as well.
This is a wonderful book about Dave Robicheau in New Iberia perish. In this book he is working for the sheriff’s office. The sheriff asks him to go see a suspected mobster who originally came from New Iberia, and whom Dave had grown up with, and ask him to leave town. Then, it became known that this man was fronting the money to produce a movie...more
Borrowed from the Library for the Blind, talking book. Available on Audible.com as well.
This is a wonderful book about Dave Robicheau in New Iberia perish. In this book he is working for the sheriff’s office. The sheriff asks him to go see a suspected mobster who originally came from New Iberia, and whom Dave had grown up with, and ask him to leave town. Then, it became known that this man was fronting the money to produce a movie...more
If I’d not been assigned to read this for my "Master Class" workshop for professional fiction writers, it is unlikely that I would have picked it up, because it is not my favorite genre.
Burke unfortunately uses much vulgarity. Most of his characters are potty-mouths, although, thankfully, the first-person narrative is not potty-mouthed. Not my cuppa tea. There was some graphic violence, which was pretty gross.
It is very well-written. It flows well, and despite a slow area in the middle, it reall...more
Burke unfortunately uses much vulgarity. Most of his characters are potty-mouths, although, thankfully, the first-person narrative is not potty-mouthed. Not my cuppa tea. There was some graphic violence, which was pretty gross.
It is very well-written. It flows well, and despite a slow area in the middle, it reall...more
I came to James Lee Burke near the more recent volumes in this series. I began with Tin Roof Blowdown.....which is a brilliant elegiac masterpiece. Faulknerian (from me that is the supreme compliment).
But recently finished this one!
If you hate any woo-woo, you will not like this book.
SPOILERS FOLLOW:
I LOVED the opening scene. I could see it in my mind! A drunk driving pull over.
I even liked (maybe not loved, but give me some time) the whole "Dave can see dead people" thing.
A small-ISH critici...more
But recently finished this one!
If you hate any woo-woo, you will not like this book.
SPOILERS FOLLOW:
I LOVED the opening scene. I could see it in my mind! A drunk driving pull over.
I even liked (maybe not loved, but give me some time) the whole "Dave can see dead people" thing.
A small-ISH critici...more
"In The Electric Mist" is the movie base on JLBs book, starring Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, and Mary Steenbergen. Have no idea if the movie is fair or not but figured I would let the the reading public know.
JLB channels both Faulkner and JD Sallinger in his style of writing. He has his own voice to be sure but the depth of his characters and the intimacy which he brings to his novels is far more than many of his peers.
New Iberia, Bayou Teche, and the Atchafalaya Swamp are characters in his bo...more
JLB channels both Faulkner and JD Sallinger in his style of writing. He has his own voice to be sure but the depth of his characters and the intimacy which he brings to his novels is far more than many of his peers.
New Iberia, Bayou Teche, and the Atchafalaya Swamp are characters in his bo...more
1 like · like · see review
This 1993 novel features Dave Robicheaux, a recovering alcoholic and former New Orleans police officer now serving as a detective in his home town of New Iberia. When a movie company descends on the town, it stirs up more than just curiosity. Mafia ties to a producer who attended high school with Dave, the uncovering of a decades-old murder and the murder of two women provide plenty of action. What lifts Burke's writing above the ordinary is his marvelous dialogue, gift of setting and the authen...more
Burke is such a mystery to me. A man that can write as well as anyone I know on the truest nature of time and place (and they are the only things that really matter). And, just as much, he knows that the root of the human condition is suffering. But why, then, does he not spot that the baby boomer bullshit, the Revolution of '68, may have had decent roots but was off the rails almost immediately? The leftist tics and concerns just dont make any sense to me coming from him, someone so otherwise g...more
This was the Branigan BookClub selection for June 2005.
This one sizzles and crackles with both potential and kinetic energy and excitement! Ever since I listened to it years ago, In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead has long been one of my favorite books. I can easily understand how it would be included in a collection of James Lee Burke's best.
In this, the sixth Dave Robicheaux novel, a Civil War movie is being made in New Iberia LA. The star of the movie, in a bid to avoid a drunk drivin...more
This one sizzles and crackles with both potential and kinetic energy and excitement! Ever since I listened to it years ago, In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead has long been one of my favorite books. I can easily understand how it would be included in a collection of James Lee Burke's best.
In this, the sixth Dave Robicheaux novel, a Civil War movie is being made in New Iberia LA. The star of the movie, in a bid to avoid a drunk drivin...more
The best Dave Robicheaux so far. Almost too much of a good thing. Too much of Dave’s brooding and too much sensory overload in the prose. But too much of good thing is still a lot of a good thing. The plot is bit more of a procedural but the mystery is good, the villain heinous and the magical realism/supernatural elements push this into what it is, a meditation of the south and its history of violence.(Civil war, civil rights era lynchings, and the squalid presence of Angola prison) Great chara...more
I have read all of his novels. I have even read his daughters first novel, she is called Alafair, the name of Dave Robicheaux's daughter in the books! I have watched his writing mature to its present gravitas. Early on, I admit, I used to rush through his descriptive passages but as he wrote, these became more and more beautiful, and now the darkness of the crimes and violence are melded with the beauty of the landscape. In this book, the psychic element was introduced in an historical invocatio...more
My first James Lee Burke novel and, having read all of them now, still probably my favorite. It demonstrates Burke's trademark style beautifully. James Lee Burke writes by combining the very gritty reality with a poetic romanticism of the mystical and historical Louisiana. The resulting gumbo makes it occasionally hard to determine the real from the imagined, which is pitch perfect considering the protagonist's viewpoint is that of a reluctant alcoholic. Picture a combination of the magical real...more
1 like · like · see review
I picked up this book because I just saw the movie "In the Electric Mist" with Tommy Lee Jones, and although the movie was flawed, the story was really good. I am hopeful that the original will meet my expectations(it certainly seems to be part of a well-loved series!)
****
Despite my duties as Mommy during school vacation week, I finished the book and I loved it. It was indeed much better then the movie, but the voices of the talented actors in the film(Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, Peter Sarsga...more
****
Despite my duties as Mommy during school vacation week, I finished the book and I loved it. It was indeed much better then the movie, but the voices of the talented actors in the film(Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, Peter Sarsga...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This is the 6th in the Robicheaux series and once again a good thriller. Burke is a fine crime writer - very imaginative and powerful.
Back Cover Blurb:
When a movie crew arrives in New Iberia to shoot a Civil War epic Detective Dave Robicheaux find that it's not just the bayou's living inhabitants who are being disturbed. As he hunts a sadistic killer targeting young prositutes, evidence of an earlier murder is brought to light. The skeletal remains are the last echo of a crime Robicheaux himself...more
Back Cover Blurb:
When a movie crew arrives in New Iberia to shoot a Civil War epic Detective Dave Robicheaux find that it's not just the bayou's living inhabitants who are being disturbed. As he hunts a sadistic killer targeting young prositutes, evidence of an earlier murder is brought to light. The skeletal remains are the last echo of a crime Robicheaux himself...more
A good entry from Burke. A Civil War movie is being filmed in New Iberia, and one of its stars is found murdered. A former resident, known for his Mafia like tactics, is funding the movie and is considered a suspect, according to Dave Robseuix (forgive the misspelling). Dave investigates, and as usual, gets himself in trouble with politics and his inquistive ways. The twists and turns are solid, and somewhat unexpected. I definitely enjoy Burke's style of description and character development. T...more
Burke's best Dave Robicheaux novel, IMHO.
Burke is the master of description, his turns of phrase often poetic. The poetry is a harsh contrast to the broken lives and desperate acts usually portrayed in his works. Once again, Dave Robicheaux is in the midst of a series of horrific crimes and is busy pushing the edge to solve them while retaining some semblance of his own humanity. The Robicheaux novels aren't for everyone (Mom begged off party way through the first), but for those who stay, Burke's and Robicheaux's journeys are a fantas...more
Spot on! Burke is a master of place. When reading one of his books you can smell the dankness of Bayou Teche and feel the mosquito bites. His characters are well drawn, even if most of them are unsavory. In this book, he added more of a whisper of the supernatural. It isn't just his intuition that's helping Dave identify the psychopathic killer from the several plausible candidates while battling his personal demons, a Confederate general encourages him over the rough patches, points him in the...more
This was the Branigan BookClub selection for June 2005.
This one sizzles and crackles with both potential and kinetic energy and excitement! Ever since I listened to it years ago, IN THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD has long been one of my favorite books. I can easily understand how it would be included in a collection of James Lee Burke's best.
In this, the sixth Dave Robicheaux novel, a Civil War movie is being made in New Iberia LA. The star of the movie, in a bid to avoid a drunk drivin...more
This one sizzles and crackles with both potential and kinetic energy and excitement! Ever since I listened to it years ago, IN THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD has long been one of my favorite books. I can easily understand how it would be included in a collection of James Lee Burke's best.
In this, the sixth Dave Robicheaux novel, a Civil War movie is being made in New Iberia LA. The star of the movie, in a bid to avoid a drunk drivin...more
May 03, 2008
rabbitprincess
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of lush, rich writing; those who enjoy Southern mysteries
Recommended to rabbitprincess by:
English prof (and I'm glad she did!)
I recall reading once that James Lee Burke has been described as "the Faulkner of crime fiction". I hate Faulkner more than the Hatfields hated the McCoys, but I love James Lee Burke, thanks to this book.
The story has deep roots in the past: several crimes committed in the New Orleans area are connected to a heinous murder thirty years previous. As Robicheaux investigates the crimes, he starts having visions of Confederate soldiers whose leader provides Robicheaux with oracular pronouncements th...more
The story has deep roots in the past: several crimes committed in the New Orleans area are connected to a heinous murder thirty years previous. As Robicheaux investigates the crimes, he starts having visions of Confederate soldiers whose leader provides Robicheaux with oracular pronouncements th...more
I first read James Lee Burke's fiction in the Esquire magazine and admired his ability to weave such great detail about setting and character into such fast-paced stories.
This novel was no different from that short story in this respect. Burke's Louisiana breathes. The bayous belch. You can smell the flowering trees, the rancid corpses of nutria rotting in gutters. You can see the grime on the clapboard houses, the sweat glistening on every character's skin. You can hear the E major blues progr...more
This novel was no different from that short story in this respect. Burke's Louisiana breathes. The bayous belch. You can smell the flowering trees, the rancid corpses of nutria rotting in gutters. You can see the grime on the clapboard houses, the sweat glistening on every character's skin. You can hear the E major blues progr...more
I found Neon Rain in a bookstore for the used in the mid-90s. Why hadn't anyone told me what a fantastic writer James Lee Burke was? Had to go find him for myself. The only book of his I haven't read of Dave Robiceaux is his next to last one. I was afraid he'd finally kill off Clete. Didn't want to know.
In The Electric Mist ... has been my favorite for years. Mr. Burke juggled all his worries, plus added fascinating men in the mist. Just a great read. It's on my top ten favorites list.
In The Electric Mist ... has been my favorite for years. Mr. Burke juggled all his worries, plus added fascinating men in the mist. Just a great read. It's on my top ten favorites list.
This is a story that does a good job in showing Det. Dave Robicheaux's compassion and dedication to his job. Written a number of years ago, it's certainly worth another look.
As the story opens, there has been a murder of a nineteen-year-old prostitute. In addition, one of Dave's childhood acquaintances moves back into town. Julie Balboni played baseball with Dave and is now a mob figure. He wants to be involved in a movie about the Civil War being filmed in town. The sheriff wants Dave to encour...more
As the story opens, there has been a murder of a nineteen-year-old prostitute. In addition, one of Dave's childhood acquaintances moves back into town. Julie Balboni played baseball with Dave and is now a mob figure. He wants to be involved in a movie about the Civil War being filmed in town. The sheriff wants Dave to encour...more
I don’t know how good he is in his other books, but in this one, James Lee Burke literally wrote up a storm. His descriptions of settings are ample but not too long, and show a keen eye and superb ability to let another see the setting through his writing. The dialogue is equally strong. And both give you just enough of a sense of what is not said that it carries you along to the climax set in the aftermath of a Louisiana hurricane. Good stuff.
Easily my favorite in the series so far. I don't think any other writer I've encountered can pair sudden and brutal violence with such eloquent, beautiful descriptive prose like Burke can. His writing really makes be feel like I've lived my whole life in louisiana.
Robicheaux continues to be a wonderfully flawed hero with a moral compass that isn't quite right. Such an incredibly interesting protagonist. Looking forward to the next one.
Robicheaux continues to be a wonderfully flawed hero with a moral compass that isn't quite right. Such an incredibly interesting protagonist. Looking forward to the next one.
I first learned about the Dave Robicheaux mysteries from my sister, who was out west on a trip and met someone who told her he was reading a mystery about New Iberia--where I was living at the time! I have subsequently read all of this series, some of them twice. Burke excels at capturing the essence of small town Southern Louisiana, while exposing the dark underbelly of Southern culture at the same time.
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James Lee Burke is an American author best known for his mysteries, particularly the Dave Robicheaux series. He has twice received the Edgar Award for Best Novel, for
Black Cherry Blues
in 1990 and
Cimarron Rose
in 1998.
Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri, receiving a...more
More about James Lee Burke...
Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri, receiving a...more
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“When people make a contract with the devil and give him an air-conditioned office to work in, he doesn't go back home easily.”
—
17 people liked it
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Jul 19, 2012 09:33am