James Lee Burke lives in two places, and he writes about them both. He has a home in Montana (where he has set his Billy Bob Holland series) and another in New Iberia, Louisiana. Pegasus Descending is the latest in his chronicles of New Iberia policeman Dave Robicheaux. And a Robicheaux novel holds the promise of a good mystery, surrounded by all the sights and sounds of the swamp, a drive into New Orleans, maybe a po’boy and an ice cold beer.
This latest Dave Robicheaux adventure doesn’t disappoint. Dave is remarried after the death of his second wife, the bait shop is sold, and he’s living in a new house, but his life is still pretty much the same. New Iberia is filled with crime and criminals galore. As the blurb inside the front cover of this advance reader’s copy declares, “for Dave Robicheaux, the past is never past.” Ain’t it the truth! Robicheaux is haunted by ghosts of his family, his friends, the war in Vietnam, and his life as a New Orleans detective. If it ever happened to him, he hasn’t let it go! All this angst works in his favour, as it makes him one helluva police investigator.
This time he recalls an old pal named Dallas Klein who got himself jammed up with the mob and was killed during a robbery. Robicheaux witnessed the whole thing, too drunk to stop it. One day, a young lady named Trish Klein appears from nowhere. Could she be Dallas’s daughter? She seems to be involved in something shady. Then there’s Lefty Raguza, Whitey Bruxall, a young suicide named Yvonne, a couple of wiseguy college boys, and Monarch Little, each of whom brings another dimension to the mystery.
Old compatriots Helen Soileau (now his boss) and Clete Purcell (still the roughest running mate you’d ever want to meet) are present and accounted for. There’s always plenty of action, and the kind of dialogue so real it makes you want to read it aloud, just to get the full flavour! Oh, and there’s the threat of a storm. A bad storm. The final chapter brings us up-to-date on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which devastated the region where Burke’s books take place.
Through it all, Pegasus Descending moves at break-neck speed. Burke’s writing is well paced, wonderfully descriptive and always human. You come away caring for this violent man because he would care for you. If you were jammed up, he’d do everything he could to help you. If you were the threat, he’d take you out! There’s something strangely comforting about that concept. I wouldn’t want to live in New Iberia parish, but it’s a place I sure enjoy visiting from time to time!
(Simon & Schuster, 2006)
