Challenges that notion that mysteries and detective stories should be taken less seriously than so-called literary fiction. This book examines James Lee burke as a writer who has expanded the mystery-detective genre with an astonishing diversity of themes, imaginative language and descriptions, and unforgettable characters.

Table of Contents Acknowledgments      Introduction LEONARD ENGEL      1. The Struggles of Southern Identity in White Doves at Morning BRAD KLYPCHAK      2. “I Took No Joy in It”: Southern Violence and Folk Justice in the Robicheaux Novels PATRICIA GAITELY      3. Soldiering On: Dave Robicheaux and Vietnam DONALD ANDERSON      4. “Jesus Out to Sea”: Burke’s Homage to Those Left Behind in the War Zone BARBARA ZIMMERMAN BOGUE      5. Ghosts, Demons, or the DTs? The Supernatural in the Robicheaux Series LINDA J. HOLLAND-TOLL      6. Believe Not Every Spirit: Strange Shadows in the Novels BRETT WESTBROOK      7. Water, Water Everywhere: Elemental Poetics and Politics in The Tin Roof Blowdown JOSIANE PELTIER      8. The Entangled Web: Heaven’s Prisoners in Manichean Prisons SAM COALE      9. The Past Is the Past: Refusing to Age Gracefully in the Robicheaux Series THOMAS EASTERLING      10. The Evil That Men Do: Options for Masculinity BRETT WESTBROOK      11. Cimarron Rose: Guns and Roses in the West JOHN M. GOURLIE      12. Robicheaux’s Sublime Torment on Film: Phil Joanou’s Heaven’s Prisoners (1996) and Bertrand Tavernier’s In the Electric Mist (2009) DENNIS ROTHERMEL      Interview with James Lee Burke LEONARD ENGEL      About the Contributors      Index      .     

“a fine collection of essays...a fascinating interview with Burke”—Western American Literature; “Burke still doesn’t get as much mainstream attention as he deserves. Engel’s collection goes a long way toward removing this vacuum and brings careful analysis and thoughtful insight into the work of a writer respected and admired by many”—Southwestern American Literature.