Cadillac Jukebox is a welcome sixth outing in James Lee
Burke’s exceptionally good series of novels to feature hard bitten
Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux. The film version of Burke’s
second Robicheaux book, Heaven’s Prisoners is released
this Summer and stars Alec Baldwin as the troubled detective.
The setting for Cadillac Jukebox, as ever, is the bayoux
and backstreets of Louisiana where Aaron Crown, former Klansman,
has finally been convicted of the murder 28 years earlier of a
prominent civil rights leader. But something about the case doesn’t
smell right to Robicheaux and he soon discovers that powerful
people would rather have an uncomfortable past left well alone
– not least the candidate for State Governor, Burford LaRose and
his wife Karyn. Karyn is an old flame of Robicheaux and he is
reluctant to get further involved for fear of alienating his own
wife. But when he is warned off the case by the mob and an unhinged
hitman starts targeting those connected with the case, Robicheaux
finds himself drawn headlong into a darkly complex tale where
personal and professional loyalties are put to the test.
James Lee Burke is a remarkable writer who combines often chilling
violence with the lyrical heart of a poet. His fine sense of
place vividly evokes the steamy emotional landscape of the deep
South and at times this reads like a travelogue of all the places
you wouldn’t want to visit but are tempted by nonetheless. Dark,
elegant, hauntingly good.
Reviewed by Jon Mitchell
