Pun Salad

This is the thirteenth entry in James Lee Burke's series of novels about New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux. One of the notable things about Dave is that the books put him through several different kinds of Hell; this one ups the ante some, as Dave has lost many of the support pillars that have held him up over the past few books: his wife, Bootsie, his old house, his side business. And even his adopted daughter Alafair has gone off to college in Oregon. So things aren't going well for him, and the volcanic black rage that's always bubbling underneath his surface threatens to engulf him this time.

The case is the usual mix: a Catholic priest has been targeted by a very colorful hit man; a poor black family has been gypped out of their land by an oil tycoon, who's now using it as a toxic dumping ground, and their genius blues singer relative went to the state pen years back and, as far as anyone's admitting, vanished from the planet. There's a mysterious woman from Dave's past, three kids have burned to death in a car crash after visiting a drive-by dacquiri stand, …

I don't think I ever quite figured out why the hit man was after that priest. Doesn't matter.

Without spoiling things, this could have easily been Dave's last appearance. But they keep coming, and I plan to keep reading.