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Dave Robicheaux #10

Sunset Limited & Cimarron Rose

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Audio Cassette

First published November 1, 1999

6 people are currently reading
235 people want to read

About the author

James Lee Burke

122 books4,171 followers
James 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.

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5 stars
159 (57%)
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94 (33%)
3 stars
19 (6%)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
623 reviews
July 15, 2019
[library audiobook, sunset limited only]

Thought the narrative was muddy. Bad guys were racist and rich, that was okay. Avenges a murdered labor organizer. But I got confused about who was who, and a progressive photographer turns out to be bad.

Probably lower priority for Burke.
Profile Image for Philip.
1,080 reviews5 followers
August 20, 2020
Pure James Lee Burke masterpiece. His style and prose make it so.
7 reviews
January 10, 2021
I like a lot of things in James Burke books. Not least that he stays in the location where the story takes place. I live in the South La. And MS. area and he gets it right. Add that to a good story and you can't go wrong! Lewis
Profile Image for Mike.
362 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2013
The central character, a labor organizer, is murdered years before the start of this story and I admire the author's subtle attempt to demonstrate the price that labor had to pay to create a middle class. Fans of Dave Robicheaux will not be disappointed. While the details of this well told story differ, it is in the same style and tenor as pervious books. This time, however, his family is not placed in the line of fire. While I am not sure I like the author's use of the epilogue, I do like his turn of phrase. Two examples are, ....a charitable drive that is of no consequence, and .....proximity to the vessel of social anger their lives had become. Helen, Dave's partner, observes that she likes working with him, but would not like to get in his head. Dave and Clete's heads can indeed be dark places and so it is probably to the reader's benefit not to read these books in quick succession.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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