In the Elecric Mist

James Lee Burke is a writer with a gift for creating atmosphere, and his work seems eminently suitable for adaptation to the big screen, so I expected great things from In the Elecric Mist, a 2009 film based on one of his Dave Robicheaux novels, and starring the excellent Tommy Lee Jones as Dave – a brilliant piece of casting.

The story-line is quite complicated. A young woman's body, sadistically mutilated, is discovered, apparently the work of a serial killer. Soon afterwards Dave has a...