Crusader's Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

James Lee Burke

Jul 2005 · Dave Robicheaux Book 14 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Critically acclaimed and bestselling crime writer James Lee Burke returns to Louisiana where his ever-popular hero, Dave Robicheaux, sleuths his way through a hotbed of sin and uncertainty.

For Dave Robicheaux, life in Louisiana is filled with haunting memories of the past—images from Vietnam, the violent streets of New Orleans, and his own troubled youth. In Crusader’s Cross, a deathbed confession from an old schoolmate resurrects a story of injustice, the murder of a young woman, and a time in Robicheaux’s life he has tried to forget.

Her name may or may not have been Ida Durbin. It was back in the innocent days of the 1950s when Robicheaux and his brother, Jimmie, met her on a Galveston beach. She was pretty and Jimmie fell for her hard—not knowing she was a prostitute on infamous Post Office Street, with ties to the mob. Then Ida was abducted and never seen again.

Now, decades later, Robicheaux is asking questions about Ida Durbin, and a couple of redneck deputy sheriffs make it clear that asking questions is a dangerous game. With a series of horrifying murders and the sudden appearance of Valentine Chalons and his sister, Honoria, a disturbed and deeply alluring woman, Robicheaux is soon involved not only with the Chalons family but with the murderous energies of the New Orleans underworld. Also, he meets and finds himself drawn into a scandalous relationship with a remarkable Catholic nun.

Brilliant, brooding, and filled with the author’s signature lyricism, Jim Burke’s latest novel is a darkly suspenseful work of literature.

Ratings and reviews

In 1958, a time of change, Dave and Jimmy Robicheaux are swimming in Galveston Bay when sharks appear nearby. A young woman, Ida Durban, notices their prediciment and rows out and saves them, forever leaving an imprint on their lives. Jimmy, in particular, becomes infatuated with Ida. He finds that she is working in a house of prostitution in order to pay off a family debt. He wants to rescue her and they are set to run away to Mexico when Ida disappears. Years later, Dave learns from a dieing friend that two policemen who were on the take, snatched Ida. They were paid to get her away from Jimmy by the owner of the house of prostitution. Shortly after learning this, Dave is assaulted. He thinks someone is trying to stop him from learning about Ida. He gets his old job back at the Iberia Sheriff's department. Sheriff Helen Soileau wants him to look into the murders of young women who were abducted in Baton Rouge, raped and killed. The last victim was a young woman from New Iberia. She may have been a victim of opportunity. When he investigates these murders, Dave takes some personal time to continue looking into Ida's disappearance. There is a continuing fued between Dave and Val Chalons. Val is a TV personality from a wealthy family. When his sister Honoria is raped and killed, Dave's fingerprints are found in her home. Val plays this up on TV and tells his audience about Dave recently marrying a Catholic Nun. This escalates the conflict. There is a fight and Val ends up in the hospital. Dave almost loses his job, but after a period of being assigned to his desk, he's back on the trail. In this sense he becomes the Crusader, looking for the killer and refusing to stop until the killer is caught. James Lee Burke is one of our finest mystery writers today. He is one of only three people to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel of the Year, more than one time. "Crusader's Cross" continues his tradition for fine writing. It is the 14th Dave Robicheaux story. Dave is one of the best protagonists in literature today. His friend Clete is one in a million.

The meandering as the one review proclaims is essential as it takes the readers on an adventure shared with author, that's the beauty of reading, I don't find it dark, I feel it's set close to reality, see the world take out it's fix kit and hit you like a home run

interesting and well written.

About the author

James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He has authored forty novels and two short story collections. He lives in Missoula, Montana.