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Dave Robicheaux #5
A Stained White Radiance
“It’s impossible to think of the Louisiana bayou without conjuring up James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books” (Chicago Tribune), including this early masterwork that pits the Cajun police detective against one of the New South’s most twisted and powerful forces. Oil speculator Weldon Sonnier is the patriarch of a troubled family intimately bound to the CIA, the Mob, and the Klan. Now, the murder of a cop and a bizarre assassination attempt pull Robicheaux into the Sonniers’ hellish world of madness, murder, and incest. But Robicheaux has devils of his own— and they may just destroy the tormented investigator and the two people he holds most dear.
404 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 1992
610 people are currently reading
2303 people want to read
About the author
James Lee Burke
124 books4,184 followersJames 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 BA and MA from the latter. He has worked at a wide variety of jobs over the years, including working in the oil industry, as a reporter, and as a social worker. He was Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, succeeding his good friend and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and preceding Ernest Gaines in the position. Shortly before his move to Montana, he taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University in the 1980s.
Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.
The book that has influenced his life the most is the 1929 family tragedy "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner.
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 BA and MA from the latter. He has worked at a wide variety of jobs over the years, including working in the oil industry, as a reporter, and as a social worker. He was Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, succeeding his good friend and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and preceding Ernest Gaines in the position. Shortly before his move to Montana, he taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University in the 1980s.
Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.
The book that has influenced his life the most is the 1929 family tragedy "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 345 reviews
June 1, 2015
James Lee Burke is an excellent storyteller. He creates a tale full of atmosphere and mystery, and if plot details occasionally seem questionable, well, they remain engaging.
Book five in the Dave Robicheaux series hits all Burke’s high points:
An immersive, sense-filled setting:
“I… walked into the French Quarter. The narrow streets were still cool with morning shadow, and I could smell coffee and fresh-backed bread in the cafes, strawberries and plums from the crates set out on the sidewalks in front of small grocery stores, the dank, cool odor of old brick in the courtyards. It had rained just before dawn, and water leaked out of the green window shutters on the pastel sides of the buildings and dripped from the rows of potted plants on the balconies or hanging from the ironwork.”
Character description that goes beyond the physical:
“Her accent was soft, pleasant to listen to, more Mississippi than Louisiana, but in it you heard a tremolo, as though a nerve ending were pulled loose and fluttering inside her.”
Plot hints:
“There was something too cavalier about her attitude, and I had the feeling that she had anticipated my visit and had already made a private decision about the outcome of our conversation.”
Observations of human character:
“He told me he had been a navy corpsman before he had gone to work for the parish as a paramedic. His face was young and clean-shaved, and he reminded me of most medics, firemen, or U.S. Forest Service smoke jumpers whom I had known. They were enamored of the adrenaline rush, living on the edge, but they tended to be quiet and self-effacing men, and unlike many cops they didn’t have self-destructive obsessions.”
A narrator who struggles with human truths:
“At that moment I realized the error of my thinking about Bootsie. The problem wasn’t in her disease, it was in mine. I wanted a lock on the future, I wanted our new marriage to be above the governance of mortality and chance; and, most important, in my nightly sleeplessness over her health, and the black fatigue that I would drag behind me into the day like a rattling junkyard, I hadn’t bothered to be grateful for the things I had.”
At the story level, A Stained White Radiance lives up to the high standards set in earlier books. Dave, a detective with the small Iberia Parish’s sheriff’s office, gets an call about a shooting at Weldon Sonnier’s house. Weldon tries to dismiss it as a kid hunting, but Dave’s not so sure. When a fatal break in at Weldon’s house commits Dave to investigation, Weldon’s siblings Drew and Lyle become reluctantly involved.
As Robicheaux delves into the affairs of the Sonnier siblings, Burke takes the opportunity to wind through Cajun country, this time focusing a little more on race aspects of Louisiana politics (the “Stained White” title is delicious). War history again plays a role in character relationships. I found plot-character mix a bit confusing at a few points, but truly, that must be how it seems to investigate a case–multiple leads that may or may not result in a solution. There’s false trails here, more so than in the average mystery. But as I finished, I realized Dave’s false starts make sense, although plotting falls slightly outside normal mystery conventions.
For those who haven’t tried the Robicheaux series, I’d recommend starting at the first, The Neon Rain. Burke started out extremely strong, so there’s no worry about waiting for the series to gain footing. The main mystery in each book stands alone, but Dave’s wrestling with his personal demons is an ongoing character issue and there’s something to be gained from understanding that struggle. I strongly recommend the series to people who enjoy mysteries, complicated characters and developed settings.
September 13, 2016
In reading the Dave Robicheaux series you are usually dealing with the darker side of New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. There is the usual mix of racial and class divide, of power and revenge, politics, the Klan, and organized crime but in this outing there is also the impact of child abuse.
Robicheaux finds himself drawn into the painful conflicts of the Sonnier family, childhood friends, when someone takes a shot at Weldon Sonnier. Then a local police officer is murdered when investigating a report of a prowler on Weldon's property. The murder appears to be connected to Joey 'Meatballs' Gouza whom Weldon appears to owe a debt. Weldon's brother-in-law, Bobby Earl, a Klansman-turned-politician, may also have ties to Gouza.
Lyle Sonnier, television evangelist and faith healer, reveals to Dave a violent family history. Weldon, Lyle, and their sister Drew had a tragic childhood and suffered at the hands of their father before he was reportedly killed. The impact of the abuse they suffered in childhood apparently carries over into adulthood. The system failed them when they were growing up. The impact of that failure is evident today.
Dave's love for his family, his wife Bootsie and his adopted daughter Alafair, is strong and evident throughout. As is the lengths he will go to in order to protect them. I especially enjoy reading about the relationship between Dave and Alafair. His description of her eyes squinting when she grins, her rough and tumble playing of kickball, his acting a referee between Alafair; Batist (his employee who runs the bait shop); and Tripod (Alafair's three legged pet racoon) adds comic relief to what is otherwise a dark story.
Robicheaux finds himself drawn into the painful conflicts of the Sonnier family, childhood friends, when someone takes a shot at Weldon Sonnier. Then a local police officer is murdered when investigating a report of a prowler on Weldon's property. The murder appears to be connected to Joey 'Meatballs' Gouza whom Weldon appears to owe a debt. Weldon's brother-in-law, Bobby Earl, a Klansman-turned-politician, may also have ties to Gouza.
Lyle Sonnier, television evangelist and faith healer, reveals to Dave a violent family history. Weldon, Lyle, and their sister Drew had a tragic childhood and suffered at the hands of their father before he was reportedly killed. The impact of the abuse they suffered in childhood apparently carries over into adulthood. The system failed them when they were growing up. The impact of that failure is evident today.
Dave's love for his family, his wife Bootsie and his adopted daughter Alafair, is strong and evident throughout. As is the lengths he will go to in order to protect them. I especially enjoy reading about the relationship between Dave and Alafair. His description of her eyes squinting when she grins, her rough and tumble playing of kickball, his acting a referee between Alafair; Batist (his employee who runs the bait shop); and Tripod (Alafair's three legged pet racoon) adds comic relief to what is otherwise a dark story.
October 30, 2020
It was fascinating reading this in 2020 in light of current events (Black Lives Matter, the resurgence of white supremacy in the U.S., etc. ... and don't even get me started on the current plague of veterans experiencing PTSD and committing suicide at heart-breaking, jaw-dropping rates)....
In any event, it's shockingly timely for a book originally published in 1992.
That aside, this is classic Burke, and a good, representative installment in the David Robicheaux saga, although a much lighter (smaller) package than much of his more recent work. If you like your crime, violence, or detective fiction packaged as literary fiction, with the kind of sublime, languid, picturesque prose that you'd like to hear read out loud, and served with a side dish of Cajun cooking, this is right up your alley.
Having been late to the party with Burke ... and, of course, Robicheaux - OK, I was initially drawn to Hackberry Holland - it's nice to know that, even after having read my first ten (10) Burke books, there are plenty more to look forward to.
In any event, it's shockingly timely for a book originally published in 1992.
That aside, this is classic Burke, and a good, representative installment in the David Robicheaux saga, although a much lighter (smaller) package than much of his more recent work. If you like your crime, violence, or detective fiction packaged as literary fiction, with the kind of sublime, languid, picturesque prose that you'd like to hear read out loud, and served with a side dish of Cajun cooking, this is right up your alley.
Having been late to the party with Burke ... and, of course, Robicheaux - OK, I was initially drawn to Hackberry Holland - it's nice to know that, even after having read my first ten (10) Burke books, there are plenty more to look forward to.
August 22, 2020
This first edition hardcover is signed by James Lee Burke.
I also own an ARC of the book which is also signed.
I also own an ARC of the book which is also signed.
July 11, 2017
A Stained White Radiance
Incredible! I expected nothing less. James Lee Burke has an incredible way of describing Louisiana, he knows the city of New Orleans, Lafayette and the bayou like no other author or writer that I have ever come across. He has yet to disappoint me and I don't think he ever could.
Incredible! I expected nothing less. James Lee Burke has an incredible way of describing Louisiana, he knows the city of New Orleans, Lafayette and the bayou like no other author or writer that I have ever come across. He has yet to disappoint me and I don't think he ever could.
May 8, 2019
Always great stories, whether you read them in series or not. The main characters are definitely real people!
April 11, 2012
Number five on my quest to read the Dave Robicheaux series of perhaps, 20 or so.
I've really liked the previous four but this one, for me, was lacking in a couple of areas.
Too, far to many, characters for my liking and the bad guys are from all kinds of groups of bad guys. At times, I had to flip back through to figure out who was with what group and what did they do?
As usual though, James Lee Burke's writing just draws me in. One reviewer described it as 'lyrical' and I agree, it is lyrical. Although it's questionable if this is considered lyrical, I liked this particular line and bookmarked it so I could go back to it now: "We stared at each other in the silence like a pair of bookends." Immediate visual on my part.
Another drawback was the ending. There were a number of loose ends left and the ending, which usually ends with a bang, surprise or something, just didn't in this book. I can get that behind me, but loose ends? I like the 'end of the story' of what happened to so and so and such and such. There was more than one loose end left hanging. It was like Burke said, Ok, I'm now at 421 pages and I can't go more than that so THE END!
Won't keep me from my personal challenge but liked Dave (and Burke) so much, I read a couple back to back. Won't happen this time, so I'm giving me and ole Dave a break for a bit. He needs to attend a few more AA meetings and I need to visit my old friend...hummm, Spenser maybe?
I've really liked the previous four but this one, for me, was lacking in a couple of areas.
Too, far to many, characters for my liking and the bad guys are from all kinds of groups of bad guys. At times, I had to flip back through to figure out who was with what group and what did they do?
As usual though, James Lee Burke's writing just draws me in. One reviewer described it as 'lyrical' and I agree, it is lyrical. Although it's questionable if this is considered lyrical, I liked this particular line and bookmarked it so I could go back to it now: "We stared at each other in the silence like a pair of bookends." Immediate visual on my part.
Another drawback was the ending. There were a number of loose ends left and the ending, which usually ends with a bang, surprise or something, just didn't in this book. I can get that behind me, but loose ends? I like the 'end of the story' of what happened to so and so and such and such. There was more than one loose end left hanging. It was like Burke said, Ok, I'm now at 421 pages and I can't go more than that so THE END!
Won't keep me from my personal challenge but liked Dave (and Burke) so much, I read a couple back to back. Won't happen this time, so I'm giving me and ole Dave a break for a bit. He needs to attend a few more AA meetings and I need to visit my old friend...hummm, Spenser maybe?
February 28, 2024
I sometimes cannot decide if Dave Robicheaux is a good guy or a bad guy. He always seems to go over the line in some form, but he is also plagued with a conscience. Definitely a tortured soul. I both enjoy and dislike these novels at the same time yet find myself drawn to them. Every time you read one of these books it feels like the same old story over and over again with the same villains, but they just have different names. Violent, complicated books. Clete Purcel who is my favorite character overall has a relatively minor role it this particular story.
April 3, 2015
I’ve never been to New Orleans, or even anywhere in Louisiana for that matter, but after reading 5 of Burke’s superb series featuring Dave Robichaeaux, I feel like I’ve been there. Burke has a talent for conveying the sense of the place, to the point that you can almost taste and smell it. It’s a rich, sensory world, but unfortunately populated by loads of pretty unsavory characters. The contrast of the idyllic bayou and the persistent crime and wrongdoing that pervades the world is what makes this series so compelling.
In A Stained White Radiance, Robicheaux, now in the sheriff’s department in New Iberia, tangles with the Sonnier family, with whom he has a long history. Weldon Sonnier is an oil tycoon, and when someone takes a pot shot at him, Dave is called in to investigate. Weldon has some ties to covert CIA doings, which has drawn the interest of the local mob. Weldon’s wife is a pill popper, and her brother Bobby Earl is an aspiring politician with ties to white supremacists. Weldon’s brother Lyle served in Viet Nam with Dave, and conquered his demons by becoming a televangelist. Oh, and Dave once had a relationship with Weldon’s sister, who is battling her own demons. To top it off, the Weldons’ estranged father, who was thought dead in an oil drilling accident, may actually be alive, heavily disfigured and lurking about. What a family!
The sniper incident balloons into a much bigger situation, some of which is probably out of Dave’s jurisdiction. But what we know of Dave after 5 books is that he can’t turn away from the evil and wrongdoing that exists around him, even though he’s come to realize it’s an uphill battle. A dead cop seals the deal for him, and Dave is determined to get to the bottom of this whole mess, even as it uncovers some awful truths about the Sonniers and the world in which he lives.
Dave’s personal world is much like the larger world that Burke so eloquently describes. At home he runs a humble bait shop on a marsh and lives in a home built by his father, where he is accompanied by his old flame Bootsie, Alafair, his adopted daughter rescued from a drug runner’s plane crash in an earlier book, and his loyal assistant Batist. Dave is loath to cross the threshold of his own personal paradise, but feels compelled to try to fix the world, one bad guy at a time.
I highly recommend this series which often reads like literature instead of mystery/crime fiction. It’s always a good sign when you finish a book and feel like diving right into the next one in the series. For new readers, Burke provides just enough back-story in each book to allow a new reader to jump in anywhere. If that’s you, do yourself a favor and start with book one.
In A Stained White Radiance, Robicheaux, now in the sheriff’s department in New Iberia, tangles with the Sonnier family, with whom he has a long history. Weldon Sonnier is an oil tycoon, and when someone takes a pot shot at him, Dave is called in to investigate. Weldon has some ties to covert CIA doings, which has drawn the interest of the local mob. Weldon’s wife is a pill popper, and her brother Bobby Earl is an aspiring politician with ties to white supremacists. Weldon’s brother Lyle served in Viet Nam with Dave, and conquered his demons by becoming a televangelist. Oh, and Dave once had a relationship with Weldon’s sister, who is battling her own demons. To top it off, the Weldons’ estranged father, who was thought dead in an oil drilling accident, may actually be alive, heavily disfigured and lurking about. What a family!
The sniper incident balloons into a much bigger situation, some of which is probably out of Dave’s jurisdiction. But what we know of Dave after 5 books is that he can’t turn away from the evil and wrongdoing that exists around him, even though he’s come to realize it’s an uphill battle. A dead cop seals the deal for him, and Dave is determined to get to the bottom of this whole mess, even as it uncovers some awful truths about the Sonniers and the world in which he lives.
Dave’s personal world is much like the larger world that Burke so eloquently describes. At home he runs a humble bait shop on a marsh and lives in a home built by his father, where he is accompanied by his old flame Bootsie, Alafair, his adopted daughter rescued from a drug runner’s plane crash in an earlier book, and his loyal assistant Batist. Dave is loath to cross the threshold of his own personal paradise, but feels compelled to try to fix the world, one bad guy at a time.
I highly recommend this series which often reads like literature instead of mystery/crime fiction. It’s always a good sign when you finish a book and feel like diving right into the next one in the series. For new readers, Burke provides just enough back-story in each book to allow a new reader to jump in anywhere. If that’s you, do yourself a favor and start with book one.
December 26, 2023
I liked this one well enough, mostly because it gave us a peek back into Dave's past with the Sonnier siblings.
Dave Robicheaux went to elementary school with Weldon, his brother Lyle and sister Drew. Everyone back then knew the Sonniers didn't have a happy home; the kids looked underfed and had to explain away a lot of marks on their little bodies. One night the Sonnier house burned down, with only the kids making it out alive. Nobody seemed terribly upset; especially the children.
As a detective with the New Iberia PD, Dave shags a call about a shot fired into the home of Weldon Sonnier. When he arrives, Weldon reports it was likely an accident by some hunters. His wife, a mentally fragile woman named Bama, swears she saw a man outside the house with nubs for ears and a horribly burned face...
Before he starts investigating the long-dead-and-buried, Dave looks into a few more likely scenarios, such as connections to Weldon's work with Air America during Vietnam; potential nuts involved with his faith healing televangelist brother; even a possible mafia angle.
This was okay. I liked getting more background and context into Dave's past, but what came as an unpleasant surprise is that YOU CAN'T FIX THE PAST, DAVE.
Another thing that bugs me is how little we see of Alafair - that's the little girl Dave saved from a plane crash while entering the US illegally with her mother. I feel like all I know about her is she's in 3rd grade now, and Dave likes taking her to eat in town. He constantly leaves her in somebody else's care to check on the Sonniers or look into a lead in NOLA. She's such a sweet little girl, and every time we get her on a page she's asking Dave if he's okay and if Bootsie is gonna get better. It's terrible how sad her little life continues to be.
As ever, James Lee Burke's gorgeous prose continues to make me love these books - that and Clete Purcell, Dave's utterly irreverent former partner and frequent sidekick. Onto the next, In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead.
All men have a religion or totems of some kind. Even the atheist is committed to an enormous act of faith in his belief that the universe created itself and the subsequent creation of intelligent life was simply a biological accident.
Dave Robicheaux went to elementary school with Weldon, his brother Lyle and sister Drew. Everyone back then knew the Sonniers didn't have a happy home; the kids looked underfed and had to explain away a lot of marks on their little bodies. One night the Sonnier house burned down, with only the kids making it out alive. Nobody seemed terribly upset; especially the children.
As a detective with the New Iberia PD, Dave shags a call about a shot fired into the home of Weldon Sonnier. When he arrives, Weldon reports it was likely an accident by some hunters. His wife, a mentally fragile woman named Bama, swears she saw a man outside the house with nubs for ears and a horribly burned face...
Before he starts investigating the long-dead-and-buried, Dave looks into a few more likely scenarios, such as connections to Weldon's work with Air America during Vietnam; potential nuts involved with his faith healing televangelist brother; even a possible mafia angle.
This was okay. I liked getting more background and context into Dave's past, but what came as an unpleasant surprise is that YOU CAN'T FIX THE PAST, DAVE.
There are events you witness, or in which you participate, that forever remain sacrosanct and inviolate in memory, no matter how painful that memory is, because of the cost that you or others paid in order to be there in that moment when the camera lens clicked shut.
Another thing that bugs me is how little we see of Alafair - that's the little girl Dave saved from a plane crash while entering the US illegally with her mother. I feel like all I know about her is she's in 3rd grade now, and Dave likes taking her to eat in town. He constantly leaves her in somebody else's care to check on the Sonniers or look into a lead in NOLA. She's such a sweet little girl, and every time we get her on a page she's asking Dave if he's okay and if Bootsie is gonna get better. It's terrible how sad her little life continues to be.
As ever, James Lee Burke's gorgeous prose continues to make me love these books - that and Clete Purcell, Dave's utterly irreverent former partner and frequent sidekick. Onto the next, In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead.
December 16, 2016
Saint Augustine once admonished that we should never use the truth to injure. I believe there are dark and uncertain moments in our lives when it's not wrong for each of us to feel that he wrote those words especially for us.
Another outstanding entry in the Robicheaux series that has Dave dealing with the mob and a trio of siblings from his youth. Bootsie's illness and protecting Alafair add fuel to an already explosive situation as Dave tries to sort out his conflicted feelings for the Sonnier family.
Just love his writing in this series.
8/10
Another outstanding entry in the Robicheaux series that has Dave dealing with the mob and a trio of siblings from his youth. Bootsie's illness and protecting Alafair add fuel to an already explosive situation as Dave tries to sort out his conflicted feelings for the Sonnier family.
Just love his writing in this series.
8/10
November 13, 2017
Maybe I've read too many Robicheaux books back to back but this one seemed to be one of his lesser efforts. Still, if you are a fan, don't pass it up.
April 6, 2017
How can you resist a writer who describes a vicious criminal like this: “Eddy Raintree’s photo stared at me out of his file with a face that had the moral depth and complexity of freshly poured cement.” Or who writes about “the redneck, coonass, peckerwood South,” referring to its inhabitants in this way: “Each morning they got up with their loss, their knowledge of who they were, and went to war with the rest of the world.”
Are you getting the impression that James Lee Burke is an atypical thriller writer? Truth to tell, the man writes so well that, even if his novels weren’t so brilliantly plotted, I’d be tempted to read them just for the stellar prose. And A Stained White Radiance, the fifth book in Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series, reflects the same writerly attention to atmosphere and character development that I found in the first four.
A Stained White Radiance — the title is taken from the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley — is a story about Klansmen, Nazis, and Mafia wiseguys. Years ago, Robicheaux served as a lieutenant in the Marines in Vietnam and as a police officer in the New Orleans Police Department. He’s past the half-century mark now and works as a deputy sheriff in rural New Iberia Parish, running a bait-tackle-and-lunch spot on the bayou on the side. Robicheaux is a fascinating character: tough, shrewd, relentless, with a powerful moral compass.
Naturally, since these are books about crime and criminals, Robicheaux finds himself mixed up in extremely dangerous investigations. His cases invariably end up involving his former partner in the NOPD, Cletus Purcell, and complicate the life he lives with his wife (the second wife in the series) and young adopted Salvadoran daughter. Previous entries in the series embroiled him in cases involving the CIA, the DEA, and the New Orleans Mob. In A Stained White Radiance, the crime at the center of the investigation brings in the Mob (again), an American Nazi politician who is a David Duke lookalike, and an assortment of odious lowlife killers, wifebeaters, and other miscreants. The story is complex and brims over with suspense. I can’t wait for #6 in the series.
Are you getting the impression that James Lee Burke is an atypical thriller writer? Truth to tell, the man writes so well that, even if his novels weren’t so brilliantly plotted, I’d be tempted to read them just for the stellar prose. And A Stained White Radiance, the fifth book in Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series, reflects the same writerly attention to atmosphere and character development that I found in the first four.
A Stained White Radiance — the title is taken from the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley — is a story about Klansmen, Nazis, and Mafia wiseguys. Years ago, Robicheaux served as a lieutenant in the Marines in Vietnam and as a police officer in the New Orleans Police Department. He’s past the half-century mark now and works as a deputy sheriff in rural New Iberia Parish, running a bait-tackle-and-lunch spot on the bayou on the side. Robicheaux is a fascinating character: tough, shrewd, relentless, with a powerful moral compass.
Naturally, since these are books about crime and criminals, Robicheaux finds himself mixed up in extremely dangerous investigations. His cases invariably end up involving his former partner in the NOPD, Cletus Purcell, and complicate the life he lives with his wife (the second wife in the series) and young adopted Salvadoran daughter. Previous entries in the series embroiled him in cases involving the CIA, the DEA, and the New Orleans Mob. In A Stained White Radiance, the crime at the center of the investigation brings in the Mob (again), an American Nazi politician who is a David Duke lookalike, and an assortment of odious lowlife killers, wifebeaters, and other miscreants. The story is complex and brims over with suspense. I can’t wait for #6 in the series.
December 19, 2011
I think I probably didn't pay enough attention to this book to do it justice. Unlike, for instance, Black Cherry Blues -- which seemed to be a very quiet book to me -- there are lots of things going on here, in all directions. I think there are probably some interesting themes that I missed because of my relative inattention, unfortunately.
I didn't get the feel of nearly as much nice prose as in the earlier Robicheaux books, but there are still some good passages -- as for instance:
"They reminded me of figures in a van Gogh or Munch painting. Palm fronds and the sunlit leaves of banana trees rustled against the screen windows, but in contrast the men inside looked wind-dried, the color of cardboard, weightless in their emaciation, their hollow chests devoid of heartbeat, the skin of their arms wrapped as tight as fish scales around their bones. Their squared-away bunks, which cast no shadows because of the sun's position, looked in their exactitude like a line of coffins."
Perhaps some day I'll listen to this again and get a better feel for it. Until then, though, I'd advise readers to start with one of the earlier books (especially Black Cherry Blues) if you just want to check out the series.
I didn't get the feel of nearly as much nice prose as in the earlier Robicheaux books, but there are still some good passages -- as for instance:
"They reminded me of figures in a van Gogh or Munch painting. Palm fronds and the sunlit leaves of banana trees rustled against the screen windows, but in contrast the men inside looked wind-dried, the color of cardboard, weightless in their emaciation, their hollow chests devoid of heartbeat, the skin of their arms wrapped as tight as fish scales around their bones. Their squared-away bunks, which cast no shadows because of the sun's position, looked in their exactitude like a line of coffins."
Perhaps some day I'll listen to this again and get a better feel for it. Until then, though, I'd advise readers to start with one of the earlier books (especially Black Cherry Blues) if you just want to check out the series.
November 22, 2012
Dave Robicheaux is a tough-talking, melancholy, might for right kind of detective. The first character in this book is S. Louisiana itself, the story actually seems kind of secondary to the descriptions of the weather, the fishing, the bayous, the snakes, alligators, the heat lightening and daily rain, his bait shop and his house, the crab, shrimp, dirty rice and the constant grill smoke floating through the trees, the French, the black, the white, the prejudices, the past and the now. The mystery is a vehicle for the author to tell us about the place he loves. This is OK, but the mystery ends up a little disjointed and unfinished. He does get off some good quotable material though, quite a bit of it actually. This was one that caught my attention:
"The truth was that I served a vast, insensate legal authority that seemed determined to further impair the lives of the feckless and vulnerable while the long-ball hitters toasted each other safely at home plate."
So the mystery is so-so, the author's descriptive writing and observations are impressive.
"The truth was that I served a vast, insensate legal authority that seemed determined to further impair the lives of the feckless and vulnerable while the long-ball hitters toasted each other safely at home plate."
So the mystery is so-so, the author's descriptive writing and observations are impressive.
September 30, 2014
This is the 5th in the Dave Robicheaux, Cajun Police detective series by James Lee Burke, but the first for me, which admittedly colors my review. I know the series has a very enthusiastic following. The book was given to me. I read it. On the plus side, I love Burke's atmospheric descriptions of New Orleans and vicinity and his authentic regional dialogue. On the negative, I was uncomfortable with his one dimensional treatment of blacks and women. Maybe these characters are given more space in previous books. In addition, the ending left several plot lines unresolved. Maybe these will be resolved in future books. As a stand alone story I could only give it two stars. It was okay.
January 31, 2021
Even more than the stories, I enjoy this author’s unique, lyrical writing style, it brings me directly into the landscape and culture of Louisiana. As is true in the prior Dave Robicheaux books, the characters are detailed, memorable and their dialogue is individualized and authentic. Even though this was first published in 1992, the subject matter is surprisingly topical and deals with many issues that are relevant almost thirty years later.
August 31, 2019
Robicheaux is trying to deal with his wife's illness when attempts are made on the lives of a family who he grew up. Soon he is up to his neck in mobsters and killers as murder invades Ibera Parish.
March 19, 2024
A Stained White Radiance: A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux #5) by James Lee Burke.
First published in 1992 by Hyperion Books. I read the 2018 Simon & Schuster TRPB. (320 pgs.)
Blurb -
Oil speculator Weldon Sonnier is the patriarch of a troubled family intimately bound to the CIA, the Mob, and the Klan. Now, the murder of a cop and a bizarre assassination attempt pull Detective Dave Robicheaux into the Sonniers’ hellish world of madness, murder, and incest. But Robicheaux has devils of his own—and they may just destroy the tormented investigator and the two people he holds most dear.
Related to the title -
The phrase “a white radiance that stains eternity” is from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s elegy titled “Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats”. In this poignant work, Shelley reflects on the untimely death of fellow poet John Keats and contemplates the meaning of life, death, and the eternal. The specific lines appear as follows:
“Heaven’s light forever shines, Earth’s shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-colored glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments.”
These lines beautifully convey the transient nature of earthly existence and the ultimate merging of the soul with the eternal. Keats, in Shelley’s view, has become part of the all-pervading Spirit of love and beauty, transcending physical life and joining the realm of absolute Beauty and Truth.
My thoughts -
The excerpt from Shelley's poem is certainly applicable to this story. Each main character in this crime thriller has a brush with death. From Dave's narrow escapes, the attack on Batist, the beating suffered by Clete Purcell, the nearly doomed Sonnier siblings, (as well as several others, some of whom wound up murdered along the way), there is no end to the threats and tension palpable on nearly every page. This is the second or third time I read this book and have enjoyed each and every time. Definitely recommended for any Dave Robicheaux fan.
First published in 1992 by Hyperion Books. I read the 2018 Simon & Schuster TRPB. (320 pgs.)
Blurb -
Oil speculator Weldon Sonnier is the patriarch of a troubled family intimately bound to the CIA, the Mob, and the Klan. Now, the murder of a cop and a bizarre assassination attempt pull Detective Dave Robicheaux into the Sonniers’ hellish world of madness, murder, and incest. But Robicheaux has devils of his own—and they may just destroy the tormented investigator and the two people he holds most dear.
Related to the title -
The phrase “a white radiance that stains eternity” is from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s elegy titled “Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats”. In this poignant work, Shelley reflects on the untimely death of fellow poet John Keats and contemplates the meaning of life, death, and the eternal. The specific lines appear as follows:
“Heaven’s light forever shines, Earth’s shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-colored glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments.”
These lines beautifully convey the transient nature of earthly existence and the ultimate merging of the soul with the eternal. Keats, in Shelley’s view, has become part of the all-pervading Spirit of love and beauty, transcending physical life and joining the realm of absolute Beauty and Truth.
My thoughts -
The excerpt from Shelley's poem is certainly applicable to this story. Each main character in this crime thriller has a brush with death. From Dave's narrow escapes, the attack on Batist, the beating suffered by Clete Purcell, the nearly doomed Sonnier siblings, (as well as several others, some of whom wound up murdered along the way), there is no end to the threats and tension palpable on nearly every page. This is the second or third time I read this book and have enjoyed each and every time. Definitely recommended for any Dave Robicheaux fan.
March 22, 2013
James Lee Burke can sketch a character like nobody's business. The details he mentions and the ones he infers pack a lot of meaning onto the page without getting bogged down. His protagonist, Dave Robicheaux, is bold as they come, hard as a bag of rocks. But the sun shines down on him when he is with his daughter, Alafair, and Tripod, the family 3-legged raccoon, makes me laugh out loud and lightens up the whole affair. It also gives Dave a lot to lose. He constantly weighs the potential cost to himself when he decides to pursue some dangerous course.
And he is done with alcohol. We have passed through the alcoholic trilogy, and not a moment too soon. Of course, an alcoholic is always in a process, always subject to moments when they hear the booze calling to them, but it is not as constantly present in the storyline anymore.
Counterpoint is provided by Batist, the employee who works at Robicheaux's bait store and cafe on the water, where there are boats for rent. Batist usually gives very good advice. He keeps his own counsel a lot of the time, and we know when he opens his mouth that most of the time, he is right (although he should not barbecue Tripod for creating mischief in the store...and he doesn't, he only talks about it).
My spouse (online I call him "Mr. Computer", since I am not allowed to use his name here) and I are reading this series together. It's the first time we've ever done such a thing. I lean in the direction of mysteries and memoirs, and he reads computer materials and heavy duty political philosophy. The working class sympathies of Detective Robicheaux (and we suspect, Mr. Burke) drew him in, and if I don't finish the book after this one soon, Mr. Computer will steal it from me!
Clete Purcel is a friend and sometimes-partner of Robicheax's. He has saved Dave's life and has his back. Though Purcel is the kind of guy who would take out a pesky woodchuck with an Uzi, nevertheless, he is loyal as the day is long, and Mr. Computer and I both like him. When I want Mr. C to be in a good mood, I call him "Noble mon" and it makes him smile.
At the end of the day, the narrator's take on life rings true:
"A therapist once told me that we're born alone and we die alone.
"It's not true.
"We all have an extended family, people whom we recognize as our own as soon as we see them. The people closest to me have always been marked by a peculiar difference in their makeup. They're the walking wounded, the ones to whom a psychological injury was done that they will never be able to define, the ones with the messianic glaze in their eyes, or the oblique glance, as though an M-1 tank is about to burst through their mental fortifications...But they save us from ourselves."
What an interesting, complex character.
No wonder neither Mr. C or I can wait to read more! So if you'll excuse me, I'll move on to #6, which awaits me on my bedside table.
And he is done with alcohol. We have passed through the alcoholic trilogy, and not a moment too soon. Of course, an alcoholic is always in a process, always subject to moments when they hear the booze calling to them, but it is not as constantly present in the storyline anymore.
Counterpoint is provided by Batist, the employee who works at Robicheaux's bait store and cafe on the water, where there are boats for rent. Batist usually gives very good advice. He keeps his own counsel a lot of the time, and we know when he opens his mouth that most of the time, he is right (although he should not barbecue Tripod for creating mischief in the store...and he doesn't, he only talks about it).
My spouse (online I call him "Mr. Computer", since I am not allowed to use his name here) and I are reading this series together. It's the first time we've ever done such a thing. I lean in the direction of mysteries and memoirs, and he reads computer materials and heavy duty political philosophy. The working class sympathies of Detective Robicheaux (and we suspect, Mr. Burke) drew him in, and if I don't finish the book after this one soon, Mr. Computer will steal it from me!
Clete Purcel is a friend and sometimes-partner of Robicheax's. He has saved Dave's life and has his back. Though Purcel is the kind of guy who would take out a pesky woodchuck with an Uzi, nevertheless, he is loyal as the day is long, and Mr. Computer and I both like him. When I want Mr. C to be in a good mood, I call him "Noble mon" and it makes him smile.
At the end of the day, the narrator's take on life rings true:
"A therapist once told me that we're born alone and we die alone.
"It's not true.
"We all have an extended family, people whom we recognize as our own as soon as we see them. The people closest to me have always been marked by a peculiar difference in their makeup. They're the walking wounded, the ones to whom a psychological injury was done that they will never be able to define, the ones with the messianic glaze in their eyes, or the oblique glance, as though an M-1 tank is about to burst through their mental fortifications...But they save us from ourselves."
What an interesting, complex character.
No wonder neither Mr. C or I can wait to read more! So if you'll excuse me, I'll move on to #6, which awaits me on my bedside table.
January 23, 2024
I bought this in New Orleans and finished reading it once I’d left. The names of places in the novel are so much more real to me now and I feel the description. It’s brilliant and spot on. Burke captures the feeling of a place incredibly. This one is more about the people in life that you take responsibility for. It’s pretty powerful. And Clete is Clete and I hope he always stays Clete. A minor character he may be but he’s my draw in this series. As solid as an oak.
January 6, 2015
Non ci pensare prima che accada, e mai dopo che è accaduto. Sì, era quello il trucco. Limitarsi a procedere secondo la logica, un piede dopo l’altro...a una certa età ti è concesso anche il lusso di non doverti più scusare con nessuno.
Una sentenza di vita non priva di fascino all'interno di un romanzo non all'altezza dei precedenti.
In questi giorni di Natale , tra albe e tramonti così belli, sorprende il pensiero che Ti vedevo come il sole che nasce ogni mattina. Ecco come ti vedevo.Una donna come te mi fa rimpiangere di non di non vivere più di una vita
Sempre unica la prosa di James Lee Burke nelle descrizioni dei paesaggi e dei personaggi, bello il rapporto con l'amico che rifiuta di farsi aiutare ma la storia perde ritmo, si anella su se stessa dando l'impressione di non avere una linea, un obiettivo.
Libro da leggere per chi, come me , ha apprezzato i precedenti ma certamente da non rileggere.
Sant’Agostino ha detto che non dovremmo mai usare la verità per ferire gli altri. Credo che nelle nostre vite vi siano momenti oscuri e incerti in cui non è sbagliato pensare che le sue parole fossero riferite proprio a noi.
Non ci resta che accompagnare la lettura ascoltando, significativo e commovente nel suo passaggio, le parole della Jolie blonde uscite dal juke-box di Tee Neg: Jolie blonde, gardez donc c’est t’as fait. Ta m’as quitté pour t’en aller, Pour t’en aller avec un autre que moi. Michael Doucet / Aly Bain / Ricky Skaggs : Jolie Blonde
Una sentenza di vita non priva di fascino all'interno di un romanzo non all'altezza dei precedenti.
In questi giorni di Natale , tra albe e tramonti così belli, sorprende il pensiero che Ti vedevo come il sole che nasce ogni mattina. Ecco come ti vedevo.Una donna come te mi fa rimpiangere di non di non vivere più di una vita
Sempre unica la prosa di James Lee Burke nelle descrizioni dei paesaggi e dei personaggi, bello il rapporto con l'amico che rifiuta di farsi aiutare ma la storia perde ritmo, si anella su se stessa dando l'impressione di non avere una linea, un obiettivo.
Libro da leggere per chi, come me , ha apprezzato i precedenti ma certamente da non rileggere.
Sant’Agostino ha detto che non dovremmo mai usare la verità per ferire gli altri. Credo che nelle nostre vite vi siano momenti oscuri e incerti in cui non è sbagliato pensare che le sue parole fossero riferite proprio a noi.
Non ci resta che accompagnare la lettura ascoltando, significativo e commovente nel suo passaggio, le parole della Jolie blonde uscite dal juke-box di Tee Neg: Jolie blonde, gardez donc c’est t’as fait. Ta m’as quitté pour t’en aller, Pour t’en aller avec un autre que moi. Michael Doucet / Aly Bain / Ricky Skaggs : Jolie Blonde
July 6, 2008
This book reads as smoothly and lyrically as the first encounter I had with a "Robicheaux-like" character (in the film The Big Easy which for all its flaws and predictability I loved). It's just that NO ambience that cannot be beat! I'm loving the developments in the story thus far and already anxious to see the turnings in the various threads I see emerging -- the suspense is building and I can tell this is going to be good!
In fact this story is so similar to that of the film that I seriously mistook it as related but find no evidence of that. Interesting.
Well -- now to dive into the rest of Burke's Robicheaux series and gobble them down like those Wheat Thins Sandy Duncan used to eat in the commercials -- one after another. Yep -- they're that good -- at least A Stained White Radiance was and I have the word of folks I trust the rest will be just that good and maybe better.
In fact this story is so similar to that of the film that I seriously mistook it as related but find no evidence of that. Interesting.
Well -- now to dive into the rest of Burke's Robicheaux series and gobble them down like those Wheat Thins Sandy Duncan used to eat in the commercials -- one after another. Yep -- they're that good -- at least A Stained White Radiance was and I have the word of folks I trust the rest will be just that good and maybe better.
October 1, 2011
This was the first James Lee Burke novel I read, and it was so, so good, it forced me to read everything by him. It's still, I think, his best Dave Robicheaux novel, or perhaps second to "The Tin Roof Blowdown," which was perhaps my favorite. I've read all the others, and I have to say, I can remember little that differentiates them from one another. Not so with this book or the "Tinroof." If you have not read Burke, it's good to begin at the beginning of the series with "The Neon Rain." But if you plan to read only one-- read "A Stained White Radiance."
December 29, 2015
A Stained White Radiance by James Lee Burke.
This is the 5th book in the Dave Robicheaux series. A tangled web of murder and secrets kept hidden by the Sonnier family. Dave has more than just another case to solve on his hands...this one involves his childhood friends. Clete Purcell has a role in this story and will play even more important roles with Dave in books to come.
Although very well written this is not one of my favorites in the Dave Robicheaux series.
This is the 5th book in the Dave Robicheaux series. A tangled web of murder and secrets kept hidden by the Sonnier family. Dave has more than just another case to solve on his hands...this one involves his childhood friends. Clete Purcell has a role in this story and will play even more important roles with Dave in books to come.
Although very well written this is not one of my favorites in the Dave Robicheaux series.
October 21, 2016
Another excellent read from James Lee Burke. I don't think I've been disappointed with any of his books yet. He really is a master story-teller.
And, if you haven't yet heard one of Burke's books narrated by Mark Hammer, you are really missing out on a wonderful experience.
And, if you haven't yet heard one of Burke's books narrated by Mark Hammer, you are really missing out on a wonderful experience.
April 9, 2012
Enjoyed it but not one of the best of the series. Maybe the problem was because I read this one after some later ones.
May 24, 2023
Another chapter in Dave Robicheaux's life courtesy of James Lee Burke - I can't get enough.
Dave, Bootsie and Alafair have become a family. Bootsie's Lupus isn't getting any easier to manage and Alafair continues to mature into a great child. Dave struggles to become the man, husband, father he knows he can be and definitely should be.
Dave becomes involved with the Sonnier family, a blast from his past, when Weldon Sonnier's wife calls in a prowler to the Sheriff's. There's so much going on with the Sonnier family you will need a score card. Weldon's wife's brother is in politics but was involved in other areas that make him not a nice person. Then the rest of the family including a brother and sister come into the mix and it's a mess that Dave attempts to sort out. Clete's there to help. Thank goodness.
James Lee Burke brings us up close with the most rotten portions of society and gives us another look at Dave's growth as a flawed, but decent man. Superb, as always. Read the series in order.
Dave, Bootsie and Alafair have become a family. Bootsie's Lupus isn't getting any easier to manage and Alafair continues to mature into a great child. Dave struggles to become the man, husband, father he knows he can be and definitely should be.
Dave becomes involved with the Sonnier family, a blast from his past, when Weldon Sonnier's wife calls in a prowler to the Sheriff's. There's so much going on with the Sonnier family you will need a score card. Weldon's wife's brother is in politics but was involved in other areas that make him not a nice person. Then the rest of the family including a brother and sister come into the mix and it's a mess that Dave attempts to sort out. Clete's there to help. Thank goodness.
James Lee Burke brings us up close with the most rotten portions of society and gives us another look at Dave's growth as a flawed, but decent man. Superb, as always. Read the series in order.
October 14, 2021
What can one say, this is a Dave Robicheaux novel written by James Lee Burke. This should be enough to make you read the novel but just in case. Dave becomes involved in a case involving childhood friends that have abusive upbringing in their lives. In takes place in New Orleans and includes the New Orleans Mafia, Joey “Meatballs” Gouda. The novel, as usual, is full of twists and turns and will satisfy the most critical of mystery writers.
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