NY Times Bestselling Author James Lee Burke is VJ Books July 2010 Favorite Author

James Lee Burke’s eagerly awaited new novel finds Detective Dave Robicheaux back in New Iberia, Louisiana, and embroiled in the most harrowing and dangerous case of his career. Seven young women in neighboring Jefferson Davis Parish have been brutally murdered. While the crimes have all the telltale signs of a serial killer, the death of Bernadette Latiolais, a high school honor student, doesn’t fit: she is not the kind of hapless and marginalized victim psychopaths usually prey upon. Robicheaux and his best friend, Clete Purcel, confront Herman Stanga, a notorious pimp and crack dealer whom both men despise. When Stanga turns up dead shortly after a fierce beating by Purcel, in front of numerous witnesses, the case takes a nasty turn, and Clete’s career and life are hanging by threads over the abyss.

Two time Edgar winner Burke has written what is being hailed as his best novel featuring former police detective Dave Robicheaux. The Glass Rainbow has received starred reviews and high praise from every reviewer including…

 Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal and Booklist. Robicheaux is the guy who just doesn’t fit in, doesn’t follow the rules, takes the law into his own hands when it suits him, and gets personally involved in every case he’s ever worked on.

Publisher’s Weekly says “MWA Grand Master Burke offers everything his readers expect–brilliant prose, prosaic situations that suddenly become mystic experiences, and a complex plot that repeatedly plumbs the depths of human depravity and the heights of nobility—“

James Lee Burke has written eighteen books in the bestselling “Robicheaux” series. Here is a chronological list of the series novels: The Neon Rain (1987), Heaven’s Prisoners (1988), Black Cherry Blues (1989), A Morning for Flamingos (1990), A Stained White Radiance (1992), In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (1993), Dixie City Jam (1994), Burning Angel (1995), Cadillac Jukebox (1996), Sunset Limited (1998), Purple Cane Road (2000), Jolie Blon’s Bounce (2002), Last Car to Elysian Fields (2003), Crusader’s Cross (2005), Pegasus Descending (2006), The Tin Roof Blowdown (2007), Swan Peak (2008) and The Glass Rainbow (2010).

Burke has also written four books featuring Billy Bob Holland, Cimarron Rose (1997), Heartwood (1999), Bitterroot (2001), In the Moon of Red Ponies (2004) and nine other books including White Doves at Morning (2002), The Convict (1985), Jesus Out to Sea (2007), and last year’s highly acclaimed Rain Gods (2009).

James Lee Burke was born in Houston, Texas, in 1936 and grew up on the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast. He attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute and later received a B. A. Degree in English and an M. A. from the University of Missouri.