James Lee Burke

In James Lee Burke’s Creole Belle, the New Iberia, La., deputy sheriff Dave Robicheaux and his best friend, Clete Purcel, take on corrupt politicians, oil men, and a possible Nazi war criminal.

From the author's Q & A with Patrick Millikin for Publishers Weekly:

Many of your books have had classical antecedents. Was there a particular classical model for Creole Belle?

I made use of some Greek myths, as is my habit, I'm afraid: Proteus rising from the sea, Charon at the River Styx, the legend of Prometheus. I'm also guilty often of stealing from the Bible.

Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel have been through a lot together, and are feeling the ravages of age. How has your own attitude toward them evolved over the years?

Here's the big joke that Dave discovers about age: any wisdom you acquire you cannot pass on to others. Everybody gets to the barn, but that's a hard conclusion to reach as you're entering the corral. They are both complicated men, but one is not complete without the other. Dave is the idealist, the quixotic figure breaking his lance on windmills, and of course Clete is the Merry Prankster, the trickster out of folk mythology. But...[read on]

Visit James Lee Burke's website.

--Marshal Zeringue