A Private Cathedral: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

James Lee Burke

Aug 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

After finding himself caught up in one of Louisiana’s oldest and bloodiest family rivalries, Detective Dave Robicheaux must battle the most terrifying adversary he has ever encountered: a time-traveling superhuman assassin.

The Shondell and Balangie families are longtime enemies in the New Iberia criminal underworld and show each other no mercy. Yet their youngest heirs, Johnny Shondell and Isolde Balangie, rock and roll-musician teenagers with magical voices, have fallen in love and run away after Isolde was given as a sex slave to Johnny’s uncle.

As he seeks to uncover why, Detective Dave Robicheaux gets too close to both Isolde’s mother and the mistress of her father, a venomous New Orleans mafioso whose jealousy has no bounds. In retribution, he hires a mysterious assassin to go after Robicheaux and his longtime partner, Clete Purcel. This hitman is unlike any the “Bobbsey Twins from Homicide” have ever faced. He has the ability to induce horrifying hallucinations and travels on a menacing ghost ship that materializes without warning. In order to defeat him and rescue Johnny and Isolde, Robicheaux will have to overcome the demons that have tormented him throughout his adult life—alcoholism, specters from combat in Vietnam, and painful memories of women to whom he opened his heart only to see killed.

A Private Cathedral, James Lee Burke’s fortieth book, is his most powerful tale, one that will captivate readers—mixing crime, romance, mythology, horror, and science fiction to produce a thrilling story about the all-consuming, all-conquering power of love.

Ratings and reviews

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, James Lee Burke, and Simon & Schuster. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. James Lee Burke is one of my favorite authors who never disappoints. Though A Private Cathedral is a bit more of a downer than some of the earlier Dave Robicheaux novels, this one is right up there with the must-reads as are the other 22 Dave novels. If you haven't met Dave and his best friend Clete Purcel there is no time like the present social distancing occasion to get acquainted. Your library probably has ALL of the James Lee Burke novels on their digital programs - Libby or Overdrive in most instances. The App is free, and the books automatically erase at the end of the loan period, usually 2 weeks. If time is heavy on your hands I can recommend binge-reading a few of these gems. Some are also movie choices now on AmazonPrime or NetFlix. There are dark days ahead in Louisiana for Dave and his circle of friends, as we re-visit a few of the crime families in that neck of the woods, and are introduced to the newest generation of those rival crime families, teenager rock-and-rollers Isolde Balangie and Johnny Shondell. Dave has for him what is an eye-opener as he is drawn to a couple of very different women. Mostly Dave, a two-time widower, doesn't involve himself with dating, he's too busy raising Aliafair (in college, now) and solving crimes that circle around the New Orleans communities. Fired from several Police Departments in that environ - Dave had a problem with liquor at times - Dave is currently working for the Sherriff of Iberia County and has been sober for almost two years. One day at a time. In between jobs and on the side, Dave and Clete are private investigators who have a reputation for getting things done. The timing of this novel is a couple of years after Katrina - there is still a lot going on with restoration work in the area, and it is an area pictured beautifully for you in this work. It makes me wish I didn't hate humidity. We have old friends from previous novels and new acquaintances, and we travel up and down the highways - mostly the little one's, staying off of Interstate 10 and Highway 90 - as we travel from clue to clue. If you love the swamp, you will feel right at home. If like me you love the desert, the emotional visit is welcome as our daily temp hit 93 degrees on May 5, 2020. If you love Burke, don't miss this book, releasing on August 11th according to AmazonSmile today. If you don't know him, give him a read. He is to the Southern Gulf Coast what Harry Bosch is to LA, CA. and Jesse Stone is to the Eastern Seaboard. pub date August 11, 2020 Simon & Schuster Reviewed on Goodreads and Netgalley on May 11, 2020.

Otherworldly. Deeply engaging and almost poetic.

exceptional

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.