{"id":3233,"date":"2024-06-19T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=3233"},"modified":"2024-06-19T09:00:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T16:00:58","slug":"in-the-eye-of-the-beholder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=3233","title":{"rendered":"In the eye of the beholder"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Bob Moyer’s favorite detective series has a notable change in offering No 24, and Bob approaches the new twist with an 0pen \u2014<\/p>\n

maybe even eager \u2014 mind.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer<\/p>\n

CLETE. A Dave Robicheaux Novel. By James Lee Burke. Atlantic Monthly Press. 336 pages. $28.<\/p>\n

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Screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He\u2019s a mess, but he\u2019s Dave Robicheaux\u2019s best friend.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been friends since their days as \u201cThe Bobbsey Twins\u201d when as cops they patrolled the French Quarter. Clete is a mainstay in this venerable series, one of the overall best in mystery fiction. He\u2019s Sancho Panza to Dave\u2019s Don Quixote, Watson to Dave\u2019s Holmes, Laurel to his Hardy, but he couldn\u2019t be more different. Where Dave drinks Dr. Pepper, Clete loves watching a shot sink to the bottom of a beer mug then slugging it back. Dave still mourns his deceased wife, while Clete gets caught up in the swirl of many a skirt. Dave eats a small sandwich; Clete can demolish the morning menu of a diner in one sitting. They have always had one thing in common, however \u2014 they both despise evil, and fight it wherever they find it, be it in the in the swamps of New Iberia, or the swamp of the French Quarter.<\/p>\n

Now, in this 24th book in the series, they have something else in common\u2014Clete\u00a0narrates the action. For the first time, we get to see inside\u00a0Clete\u2019s thoughts, while getting the first external perspective on Dave. Burke does a remarkable job in not making the shift jarring at all.<\/p>\n

The story starts when thugs strip\u00a0Clete\u2019s Cadillac convertible, looking for what turns out to be a plague-like version of fentanyl, maybe transported in\u00a0Clete\u2019s car while it was at the detail shop Clete\u00a0immediately takes up the challenge when he figures it out \u2014 his grandniece was a victim of the drug. Soon he and Dave are chasing a pack of bad guys who include a dirty cop, a virulent anti-Semite and the nation\u2019s most famous Ponzi scheme promoter. Their confrontations pulse with the usual violence Burke brings to his prose.<\/p>\n

Burke paints a nuanced portrait of Dave through\u00a0Clete\u2019s eyes. In many ways Dave seems quieter, but\u00a0Clete\u00a0contributes a perspective on the power of the violence contained (most of the time) by Dave. Burke also brings out the difference in the role of women in their lives. Clete\u00a0gets involved with four women \u2014 a Bourbon Street pole dancer, a trafficked Chinese woman, the wife of the Ponzi promoter \u2014 and Joan of Arc. Yes, once again, the barriers between time periods break down in this series, and the French martyr shows up on\u00a0Clete\u2019s personal battlefield to guide him through many sticky situations. The numerous episodes include a marvelous moment when\u00a0Clete\u00a0chases a villain over a levee on the Mississippi into the plains of France in the 15th century.<\/p>\n

Justice takes place, bad guys get taken down, and the good guys and girls win \u2014 but not in a courtroom. Burke has produced a refreshing change to a venerable series, with all the passion and skill he has maintained these many years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of Bob Moyer’s favorite detective series has a notable change in offering No 24, and Bob approaches the new twist with an 0pen \u2014 maybe even eager \u2014 mind. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer CLETE. A Dave Robicheaux Novel. By James Lee Burke. Atlantic Monthly Press. 336 pages. $28. He\u2019s a mess, but he\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[590,5,4,14],"tags":[338,425,191],"class_list":["post-3233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-detective-fiction-mysteries","category-mysteries","category-southern-fiction","category-thriller-suspense","tag-dave-robicheaux","tag-detective-fiction","tag-james-lee-burke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3235,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3233\/revisions\/3235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}