Bearing burdens in "Crusader's Cross"

Kevin’s Corner


“The wind smelled of humus, lichen, the musky odor of pecan husks broken under the shoe, a sunshower on the fields across the bayou. But any poetry that might have been contained in that moment was lost when I stared into Honoria’s face, convinced that human insanity was as close to our fingertips as the act of rubbing fog off a windowpane.

Honoria’s eyes remained fixed on mine, expectant, somehow trusting, the redness of her mouth and the mole next to it as inviting as a poisonous flower.” (Crusader’s Cross, Page 66)

The inherent evil whether born or created by enviroment in some and righting past wrongs as best as one can have always been strong themes in the Dave Robicheaux series of novels. That certainly is true in this latest effort, which leads readers back in time to 1958 before returning to the present.

Years ago, Dave and his brother Jimmie met a young woman named Ida Durbin in Galveston, Texas. Jimmie quickly fell in love with her not knowing much about her including the fact that she was a prostitute. Once he found out, he made plans to get her away from her pimp and out of the life. Unfortunately, that didn’t work and she vanished without a trace moments before Jimmie was supposed to meet her. Jimmie has always carried a torch for her, convinced she survived whatever happened and may have even had a country music career.

In the present, Dave is called to the hospital to talk to Troy Bordelon. Troy has been asking for Dave for some reason possible because they knew each other years ago. Troy always was bullying scum and Dave has no idea why he would want to talk to him about anything. Troy tells him that his Uncle was one of the cops who took a woman away (presumably Ida) years ago and he doesn’t know if she is dead or not. Dave tries to get more information but Troy is unable to talk. He also gets little information about of two Sheriff’s deputies who lurk outside the hospital and want to know what Troy told Dave. The cops are dirty and with the sudden death of Troy during the night, the answers are going to be harder to find.

For Dave, he doesn’t know if she is alive or dead or what happened so long ago. He also can’t explain why if she is alive, she never contacted Jimmie. Dave goes back home to New Iberia, Louisiana but with so many questions about what happened and guilt over the fact that they didn’t do more at the time, he isn’t about to leave things alone. Before long, he is back on the local police force so that his questions have some authority behind them. Once again, as he investigates he begins dealing with another wealthy family that seems rotten at the core while at the same time dealing with his continuing grief over the death of his wife and his own alcoholic demons. Throw in a serial killer who starts dropping bodies in the area as possible a message to Dave, the usual hard nosed antics of Clete Purcell, the usual media circus and a new love interest for Dave, along with a few other story ingredients, and the result is another dark and brooding crime laden mystery that is good to the final word.

As always, author James Lee Burke, turns a phrase well and brings the beauty as well as the pain fully alive for the reader. Told primarily through Dave’s viewpoint, the read moves forward slowly in terms of time and the long back story as well as the crimes depicted in the here and now. Through it all, there is a certain melancholy feel to the work as Dave while dealing with everything going on in his life, comments frequently about the passing of years, the aging process, life spans and death, and such. More so that in the earlier novels in the series and this time it is like Dave believes that his life has pretty much passed him by.

This reader was left with a sense that this novel, beyond being another good one, could easily be the final novel of the series. One hopes not and hopefully there will be many more. If it is the final one, he ends the series on a high note and in one book, hits on all the story themes that have made up in the entire series. By doing so, the work certainly stands as a shining example of an author’s body of work as well as the work of a familiar beloved character.


Crusader’s Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
By James lee Burke
Simon & Schuster
www.simonsays.com
2005
ISBN # 0-7432-7719-8
Hardback
325 Pages



More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.


Thanks for reading!


Kevin R. Tipple © 2005