Thread by @RobinMacNab

About 18 months ago I saw a tweet from @peggy_blair raving about a crime book by @JamesLeeBurke. I had never heard of him despite his 42 books to date. I thought I would try just one. Just finished 42. This thread records my thoughts. @simonschuster #books #jamesleeburke 1/13

Discovered he is considered one of the great writers of our time, well beyond the crime genre. Comparisons to William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck. So to see Burke as a “crime writer” is like seeing Rembrandt as a house painter. 2/13

He is the winner of two “Edgar” (best crime book) awards, the Mystery writers of America Grand Master award and a Guggenheim fellowship. After so many books, I kept expecting him to run out of gas. But after each one, I would say “best one yet”! 3/13

His books likely appeal more to men than women. They border on the “western” genre – sheriff stands up to the bad guys, and after numerous bar brawls and a shootout or two at the OK Corral, the good guys prevail but by a slim margin. 4/13

His characters are deliciously complex. The good guys are deeply flawed. Many of the bad guys have a redeeming feature or two. The central themes of his books are loss and redemption, forgiveness, the search for justice and the infinite capacity of humans for evil. 5/13

His plots are formulaic but that is part of their charm – his creativity in placing such interesting new meat on the basic same bones. We become very comfortable with the same main characters – I joke that these are Hardy Boys for adults. Can’t wait for the next one. 6/13

It is hard to find a negative review. This rave by Mark Gamin provides a wonderful overview of Burke’s entire oeuvre washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/index.php/book…   7/13

This review of The Tin Roof Blowdown by @peterguttridge in The Guardian is good.  If any of Burke’s books qualify as genuine “literature”, this is it. Brilliant descriptions of the real life tragedy and human depravities of Katrina theguardian.com/books/2007/nov… 8/13

The 42 books are divided into 3 groups: standalones (7), the Dave Robicheaux series (23) and the Holland family saga (12) broken into 4 subsets – the Holland family tree helps jamesleeburke.com/holland-family… 9/13

My favourite was Wayfaring Stranger, followed by House of the Rising Sun. The two Edgar Award winners Cimarron Rose and Black Cherry Blues, plus Rain Gods and Creole Belle. White Doves at Morning is a good standalone story set in the civil war. 10/13

My only quibble would be Burke’s tendency to repeat at length the same descriptions of the horrors of battles in Vietnam, and the deplorable and cruel conditions in southern prisons. His two excellent books of short stories (The Convict, Jesus Out to Sea) avoids this. 11/13

Readers will be divided on Burke’s use if the supernatural - the dead are still with us. Mysticism, spectral visions, ghosts, apparitions, the paranormal. This culminates in A Private Cathedral with a time traveler from the 16th century. 12/13

A very enjoyable project. I would love to hear from other Burke fans (or not). Who should be my next detective – Bosch? Shoutout to @rwlibrary for help with all the books - I’m number one on waiting list for #43, Flags on the Bayou, out next month. 13/13

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