Pun Salad

James Lee Burke's Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux tackles an impressive array of bad guys, while also battling his inner demons. (Not as successfully as he's done in other entries in the series.) This book was an Edgar Award nominee for best novel in 2003.

A horrendous crime, the rape and murder of a local teenager, has occurred. The prime suspect is Tee Bobby Hulin, a gifted local musician. Dave doesn't think that's the whole story, however, and he's right. Soon afterward a local prostitute is beaten to death while Tee Bobby is out on bail. Floating around is a man called Legion, one of the more creepy and unabashedly evil characters Dave has encountered; that's saying something.

As always, Burke's prose is masterful and intensely descriptive. And (as always) the current events have deep roots in the dark and corrupt past.

If you read this, you might want to familiarize yourself with Mark 5:1-20, although the ending is more than a bit different here. Dave's a good man, but he's no Jesus.