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9th out of 75 books
—
93 voters
Black Cherry Blues (Dave Robicheaux #3)
Winner of the Edgar® award for best novel
Evil crept into Dave Robicheaux's bayou world one night and destroyed the woman he loved. Now it's threatening the life of his innocent child.
Framed for murder, the Cajun ex-cop is traveling far from his Louisiana home to clear his name, to help a friend, to save what remains of his family—seeking justice and revenge in the Big Sky...more
Evil crept into Dave Robicheaux's bayou world one night and destroyed the woman he loved. Now it's threatening the life of his innocent child.
Framed for murder, the Cajun ex-cop is traveling far from his Louisiana home to clear his name, to help a friend, to save what remains of his family—seeking justice and revenge in the Big Sky...more
Mass Market Paperback, 366 pages
Published
December 1st 1990
by Avon
(first published January 1st 1989)
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This novel is best suited for people who like a darkness of human character intertwined with an engaging clue trail amidst melancholy yet beautiful writing.
Robicheaux is back and not too soon. This time around he's recovering from a horrible loss in his family, getting over his binge with alcoholism and wouldn't you know it but the poor guy tries to help an old college friend and gets framed for murder.
What's a detective to do?
Apparently, drive to Montana with his foster daughter.
I'm kidding...more
Robicheaux is back and not too soon. This time around he's recovering from a horrible loss in his family, getting over his binge with alcoholism and wouldn't you know it but the poor guy tries to help an old college friend and gets framed for murder.
What's a detective to do?
Apparently, drive to Montana with his foster daughter.
I'm kidding...more
Finally, a modern author who isn't afraid to take his time and use language as it is meant to be used in a novel! Patterson tells a hell of a story...but Burke makes the read wholly worthwhile and rewarding.
"I believe every...man remembers the girl he thinks he should have married. She reappears to him in his lonely moments, or he sees her in the face of a young girl in the park, buying a snowball under an oak tree by the baseball diamond. But she belongs to back there, to somebody else, and tha...more
"I believe every...man remembers the girl he thinks he should have married. She reappears to him in his lonely moments, or he sees her in the face of a young girl in the park, buying a snowball under an oak tree by the baseball diamond. But she belongs to back there, to somebody else, and tha...more
It took me a long time to find the time for this book, but one important conclusion rings true: James Lee Burke writes an excellent novel. I like underdog mystery novels and this was the first pleasure reading I have done in some time. At first I thought I was just grateful that I wasn't taking notes and could relax in an easy chair, but I realized that the writing and the story were both above average.
I especially enjoyed the way the author filled in the character/personality of his subjects, e...more
I especially enjoyed the way the author filled in the character/personality of his subjects, e...more
Wow! This is the first time I've read James Lee Burke but have wanted to a long time since this book won the Edgar Award. I like to follow those books which are nominated and/or receive an Edgar.
Must check it out but thought this was the first in the series, and I hope so because just read something which said, 'it just keeps getting better.' That's quite a compliment since this book was a great read with all the elements I, personally, love in a book.
The characters were described with clarity,...more
Must check it out but thought this was the first in the series, and I hope so because just read something which said, 'it just keeps getting better.' That's quite a compliment since this book was a great read with all the elements I, personally, love in a book.
The characters were described with clarity,...more
6 likes · like · see review
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I can't quite decide whether to give this book 4 stars or 5. 4.5, maybe. I love Burke's writing. This is some high class sh*t here, folks.
Even though this is a crime/mystery/thriller type of book, it remains thoughtful and contemplative throughout. Several violent events do happen throughout the book, but most of them happen off screen. This is a book that focuses more on Dave's interior experience than on the events surrounding him.
This is also a book full of obliqueness and hidden depths. We...more
Even though this is a crime/mystery/thriller type of book, it remains thoughtful and contemplative throughout. Several violent events do happen throughout the book, but most of them happen off screen. This is a book that focuses more on Dave's interior experience than on the events surrounding him.
This is also a book full of obliqueness and hidden depths. We...more
2 likes · like · see review
Good Story #3. Julie and Scott enjoy New Orleans (mmm, that gumbo!) but are not so crazy about being on the lam.
============
My comments:
This is the third in the Dave Robicheaux series and the subject of this week's discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. It is the reason I read Neon Rain and Heaven's Prisoners. We see Dave's story arc continue as he continues to deal with the personal repercussions of the events in Heaven's Prisoners. He is still running his bait shop and when troubl...more
============
My comments:
This is the third in the Dave Robicheaux series and the subject of this week's discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. It is the reason I read Neon Rain and Heaven's Prisoners. We see Dave's story arc continue as he continues to deal with the personal repercussions of the events in Heaven's Prisoners. He is still running his bait shop and when troubl...more
I had a little trouble getting going with this one. Like a lot of detective novels, it started out a little slow. The story starts down in Lousiana, then moves north to Missoula, the Flathead, and the Front Range. I really started to enjoy it once they got up north, not just because of the locale, but because Dave Robicheaux, the main character, really started messing with people's heads once he got to Montana. BCB has all the trappings of a classic detective story: a former alcoholic, ex-cop wh...more
This trade paperback reprint brings back an early Dave Robicheaux novel (first published in 1989) in which he travels from his native Louisiana to Montana to escape his guilt over the murder of his wife. Of course, the familiar territory is covered: his attendance at AA meetings, care for an adopted refugee girl from El Salvador, among other things.
A land-hungry oil company is pitted against the interests of a Blackfoot reservation, and when two American Indian activists disappear, Dave’s invest...more
A land-hungry oil company is pitted against the interests of a Blackfoot reservation, and when two American Indian activists disappear, Dave’s invest...more
1 like · like · see review
Ghosts, flaws, weaknesses and gumbo. Enough to go around.
I began at the end of the series, and have finally gotten back to the beginning. For readers new to James Lee Burke, it's not an absolute necessity, but for this reader, it make the overall meal much tastier. If you like your Main Characters cut from whole human being cloth, you will not find many who do it better than Mr. Burke. Dave Robicheaux is so fully formed, you'll swear you shared a joke with him last week at the bait shop. The fol...more
I began at the end of the series, and have finally gotten back to the beginning. For readers new to James Lee Burke, it's not an absolute necessity, but for this reader, it make the overall meal much tastier. If you like your Main Characters cut from whole human being cloth, you will not find many who do it better than Mr. Burke. Dave Robicheaux is so fully formed, you'll swear you shared a joke with him last week at the bait shop. The fol...more
The detective genre is sooo tired. The goodhearted gumshoe who bucks the system. The flawed broads that can't help but fall for the tough guy w/a heart of gold. The beatings, the survival and the end that leaves the hero broken, wounded but somehow barely on the winning side. What's worse is the serialization of the fallen just means the poor schmuck will have to do it all again; it's a bad soap opera.
Burke's take is more shamanistic than shoe leather. Filled w/sense of place and poetry, the wri...more
Burke's take is more shamanistic than shoe leather. Filled w/sense of place and poetry, the wri...more
Dec 30, 2010
Kathleen Hagen
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2010-audio-books,
2010-mysteries
Black Cherry Blues, by James Lee Burke, A. produced by American Printing House for the Blind, and borrowed from National Library Services for the Blind.
Burke won an Edgar for this book, and deservedly so. This is one of the earlier books. It appears to be the third in the Dave Robicheau series. In this book, he is mourning the death of his wife, who was murdered. He is left to raise their adopted daughter, Allafair, alone. His old college roommate, who had flunked out, suddenly appeared and aske...more
Burke won an Edgar for this book, and deservedly so. This is one of the earlier books. It appears to be the third in the Dave Robicheau series. In this book, he is mourning the death of his wife, who was murdered. He is left to raise their adopted daughter, Allafair, alone. His old college roommate, who had flunked out, suddenly appeared and aske...more
In previous reviews of the Dave Robicheaux series (#1 and #2) I spoke about having an edge in that I've lived in Southern Louisiana. The prose, the descriptions hit me squarely in the gut. I knew what Burke was describing having smelt, tasted and felt that world through recollections of my own.
In this book, for the first time I saw Burke as most readers see him...I read about a world I'd not visited as Robicheaux visits Montana and thereby could rely only on what I was given to me by Burke. It m...more
In this book, for the first time I saw Burke as most readers see him...I read about a world I'd not visited as Robicheaux visits Montana and thereby could rely only on what I was given to me by Burke. It m...more
3 likes · like · see review
Mar 21, 2013
Donna
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery-crime-fict-etc
Wow. I can give this book a short review for someone considering reading it, and I want to go more in depth, because this man has a lot going on.
So here's the short version of this Edgar winning novel: the story line holds together w/o pause, slow spot, or error, but it's more than that. The development of character is the most engaging of any new-to-me writer I've read in a very long time. I was so sick of reading novels about alcoholics, and really, really tired of the hackneyed ruse of ordina...more
So here's the short version of this Edgar winning novel: the story line holds together w/o pause, slow spot, or error, but it's more than that. The development of character is the most engaging of any new-to-me writer I've read in a very long time. I was so sick of reading novels about alcoholics, and really, really tired of the hackneyed ruse of ordina...more
This is the third in the Dave Robicheaux series and I love reading about the American South and Robicheaux's criminal world. Burke really knows how to tell a story - a wonderful writer.
Back Cover Blurb:
Personal tragedy has left Dave Robicheaux close to the edge. Battling against his old addiction to alcohol and haunted nightly by vivid dreams and visitations, Dave finds his only tranquility at home with his young ward Alafair. But even this fragile peace is shattered by the arrival of Dixie Lee...more
Back Cover Blurb:
Personal tragedy has left Dave Robicheaux close to the edge. Battling against his old addiction to alcohol and haunted nightly by vivid dreams and visitations, Dave finds his only tranquility at home with his young ward Alafair. But even this fragile peace is shattered by the arrival of Dixie Lee...more
What an incredible story teller. James Lee Burke is so descriptive and creates such a rich backstory to his characters and story that the book literally comes alive. It's like watching a film. I was recommended this series by a viewer of my YouTube book reviews, she said that If I loved Louisiana culture I had to get into Dave Robicheaux's world. This book takes Dave from his home in the Louisiana bayou to the wilds of Montana to track a killer who has framed him. The story itself is not what sh...more
This is good storytelling. Even if it's a bit confused and slow to start Burke's storytelling is miles above the rest. Robicheaux is still swimming through the lost tragic and traumatic lost of his wife Annie, his past comes back to bite him in the behind and he might, just might have stepped into a bit of a mess that will put him in jail and much worst unless he finds a way to make sense of it all. Not all black, definitely no white knight, Robicheaux lives in a world of grey and where the choi...more
I thought I would try and audio book to make better use of my work commute. I have always wanted to read this book. At first it was a little slow, I am used to reading fast. But now I am on disc 3, I am in the groove of the cajun accent, feeling the humidity, imagining the southern bayou, hearing the summer night sounds. It took awhile, but it is definitely picking up. I didn't even notice the drive home tonight, and it was about 50 minutes. I think I read so fast I skim thru alot of details. Ca...more
After so many strong recommendations for titles by James Lee Burke, I finally picked up Black Cherry Blues , the 3rd in the Dave Robicheaux series. What a great mystery! This book won the Edgar award in 1990 for best mystery novel. Normally when I read a mystery, I am completely focused on the plot. But, listening to this book, I couldn't help but appreciate the excellent writing and well developed characters. I loved how the 'bad guys' were the scum of the earth and the good guys weren't much b...more
This is number three in the Dave Robicheaux series and it won the Edgar Award in 1990.
The book opens with Dave having a flashback about the viscous murder of his wife Annie in the previous book. She and his father appear to him throughout the book. This book is more of a straight detective novel than some of Burke's later books in the series.
Dave runs into an old friend of his from college, Dixie Lee Pugh. Dixie was a rock and roller until he went to prison for a DWI homicide and then he became...more
The book opens with Dave having a flashback about the viscous murder of his wife Annie in the previous book. She and his father appear to him throughout the book. This book is more of a straight detective novel than some of Burke's later books in the series.
Dave runs into an old friend of his from college, Dixie Lee Pugh. Dixie was a rock and roller until he went to prison for a DWI homicide and then he became...more
Okay, I love Mr. Burke's short stories. This is the first novel of his I've read. And while I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to read more soon, I really hope there aren't quite so many trees in them. Honestly this book had more trees in it than any I've ever read. Anywhere and everywhere Dave Robicheaux goes, he makes sure to let me know what kind of trees are nearby. That aspect wore on me a little bit, but everything else about the book I enjoyed. It was maybe a little uneven and began slowly...more
JLB's first of many in the Dave Robicheaux series. Just to let you know, should you be unfamiliar with James Lee Burke, two of the DR series have been made into motion pictures. The first starred Alec Baldwin and Eric Roberts in Heaven's Prisoners--followed the book to the letter. Secondly, Tommy Lee Jones starred as DR in In the Electric Mist with the 'Confederate Dead'; I must say it was an outstanding movie, a bit of a surprise.
I have listened to all of the Dave Robicheaux series now, oddly,...more
I have listened to all of the Dave Robicheaux series now, oddly,...more
There is really no doubt that James Lee Burke is one the better contemporary writers working today. His use of language is at times sublime. Burke has an amazing sense of place in his work, the South Louisiana Bayou spreads across your eyes like warm butter. Even with 'Black Cherry Blues' mostly set up north in Montana, Burke really brings the flat barren poverty ridden landscape to life.
Plot wise, Burke can also creates magic with his pen, though 'Black Cherry Blues' is a little more slower pac...more
Plot wise, Burke can also creates magic with his pen, though 'Black Cherry Blues' is a little more slower pac...more
This Edgar Best Novel winner is set partially in Louisiana (the locale for most of Burke's Dave Robicheaux series) and partly in Montana. Dave Robicheaux is a former cop who now runs a bait shop and fishing boat rental business. He has been horrifically widowed in a previous book and now shares his life with a six-year-old Salvadoran orphan girl whom he rescued and has named Alafair.
One day, Robicheaux runs into an old classmate -- sort of a Jerry Lee Lewis type who's been through some hard time...more
One day, Robicheaux runs into an old classmate -- sort of a Jerry Lee Lewis type who's been through some hard time...more
This, the third in the Dave Robicheaux series, is the first totally deserving of five stars. The first two books are great, but here all the elements of plot, character, setting, and truly inspired storytelling come together to create a fantastic page-turner. Burke is a master, and his writing will delight while his plots hold you on the edge of your seat.
It seems that every book in this genre has to be part of a series, often with very inconsistent results. If you want to write a great series,...more
It seems that every book in this genre has to be part of a series, often with very inconsistent results. If you want to write a great series,...more
James Lee Burke is one of the best crime fiction writers alive. His Dave Robicheaux character is best in his bas in Louisiana cajun country or New Orleans. This book would have been a 4 star rating but the character splits his time in Montana chasing bad guys and trying to exonerate himself as a trial comes closer for a crime he did not commit. The portion of the story in the decadent Louisiana locales are riveting.
A good read.
A good read.
One of my favorite authors and possibly the best crime writer in the States today. The beauty of his language and the horror of scenes he describes are compelling. And if New Orleans, Montana and Texas are not yet special places for you, they will be after reading his books.
This book is one of his award winners and features his main hero, ex NOPD cop Dave Robicheaux. Yo, big mon, it's all copacetic!
This book is one of his award winners and features his main hero, ex NOPD cop Dave Robicheaux. Yo, big mon, it's all copacetic!
As always, I am enthralled by JLB's prose; it's just a rich gumbo of metaphor and style. Robicheaux and Clete are such fulfilling characters, a pair that Cervantes would have loved. Many of Burke's books have a certain hook, and there are similarities of tone that reoccur, but all in all, I'd rather read a book like this one over and over than a lot of stuff that passes for mystery/suspense writing.
3rd in Dave Robicheaux series. This one almost had Dave go to Angola for killing a man. He did go to Montana to figure out what had happened and did take Alafair with him. The conversations between Dave and Alifair are great. Annie and his dad came back to help him find things in this one. But I am not sure they will be back. I think this was the best so far that I have read by him.
Jul 29, 2011
Christy
added it
I listened to this book. The Narrator is convincing and able to convey many voices. The story is rich and multidimensional. Burke paints each scene with beautiful descriptive clarity so the book becomes more than just a detective story than one rushes through to discover the outcome. My one complaint is the ending comes fast and pat (like many mysteries/detective stories seem to do).
This was probably my favorite James Lee Burke Dave Robichaux novel. Burke taught in the English department at Wichita State when I was there in the early 1980's, late 1970's. This is a typical, very dark murder mystery from Burke. Robichaux is framed in a murder in New Orleans. The murderer, whom happens to be the prime witness against Robichaux, is up in Montana, where he works as an oil lease salesman. Dave needs to find him and clear his record before his trial date begins. Wheels start spinn...more
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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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“I believe every...man remembers the girl he thinks he should have married. She reappears to him in his lonely moments, or he sees her in the face of a young girl in the park, buying a snowball under an oak tree by the baseball diamond. But she belongs to back there, to somebody else, and that thought sometimes rends your heart in a way that you never share with anyone else.”
—
10 people liked it
“. . . I had found the edge. The place where you unstrap all your fastenings to the earth, to what you are what you have been, where you flame out on the edge of the spheres, and the sun and moon become eclipsed and the world below is as dead and remote and without interest as if it were glazed with ice. ”
—
5 people liked it
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