Published in 1989, James Lee Burke’s Black Cherry Blues was the first of his two books to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel (his other came in 1998 for Cimarron Rose). It is the third in Burke’s signature series starring Detective Dave Robicheaux, a recovering alcoholic and Vietnam War veteran from New Iberia, Louisiana.…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week, a highly anticipated debut from A. J. Finn and the 21st Dave Robicheaux novel from James Lee Burke help…
James Lee Burke’s most beloved character, Dave Robicheaux, returns in Robicheaux—a gritty, atmospheric mystery set in the towns and backwoods of Louisiana. My favorite James Lee Burke is angry, old James Lee Burke. With Robicheaux—his 21st novel starring the eponymous retired NOLA Homicide cop turned PI turned sheriff in the Elysian Babylon of Iberia Parish—Burke…
An observation I had in my years working for Sports Illustrated: athletes and the heroes of crime fiction have much in common, but most simply this—a ruthless clarity of purpose and an ability to perform at their best when the action reaches its climax. Below I’ve assembled a football team populated by great characters from…
Crime fiction is cheerfully described as an addiction by many of its fans, including such diverse personalities as Sigmund Freud and Woodrow Wilson. Just as neurochemical addicts have an endless menu of obsessions to gorge on (alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, gambling, chocolate, sex…), crimefic addicts have an ever-growing and ever-mutating variety of subgenres to sample. But…
This is the third installment in our Death Brackets: Toughest Dicks vs Baddest Thriller Heroes. In the intro, you learned the rules and met the contestants. In Part 1 of the First Round, we gave you the first four matches of our Savage Sixteen. Today, the last four. And then the competition gets really stiff!
Mysteries and thrillers, by nature, are populated by tough guys. Detectives who hunt down serial killers. Spies who uncover dangerous traitors. Assassins who take out the worst bad guys on the planet — and anti-heroes like Dexter and Hannibal Lecter with enough goodness in their dark hearts that they sometimes turn their characters around and…
