Morning for Flamingos [Paperback]

James Lee Burke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2005

A routine assignment transporting two death-row prisoners to their executions goes fatally wrong, leaving Dave Robicheaux brutally wounded and his partner dead. Obsessed with revenge, Dave is persuaded by the DEA to go undercover into the torrid sleepy depths of New Orleans, a volatile world of Mafia drug-running and Cajun voodoo magic. He becomes irrevocably snarled in the nightmarish web surrounding Mafia don Tony Cardo and must put himself against his own worst fears in order to survive.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Lee Burke is the author of numerous award-winning novels, many featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana.

Product Details

• Paperback: 374 pages
• Publisher: Orion Paperbacks (June 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753820293
• ISBN-13: 978-0753820292
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,420,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Lee Burke, a rare winner of two Edgar Awards, is the author of twenty-three previous novels, including such New York Times bestsellers as Bitterroot, Purple Cane Road, Cimarron Rose, Jolie Blon's Bounce, and Dixie City Jam. He lives in Missoula, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I figure the guy sitting in the chair knew the rules...snuff someone in Louisiana, you get some serious electroshock therapy.", April 11, 2009

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Morning for Flamingos (Paperback)

Published in 1990 as the fourth in the seventeen-novel Dave Robicheaux series, A Morning for Flamingoes, while often violent, also shows Robicheaux's softer side, his overwhelming love for his adopted daughter Alafair, then six years old; his respect for Clete Purcell, despite Clete's problems with drugs and drinking; his desire to help Tee Bone, a young black man he thinks does not deserve the penalty he may get for murder; his desire to renew a romance with Bootsie, a woman he jilted when he was twenty; and his sensitivity toward the severely handicapped child of a Mafia lord who is running the drug business in New Orleans. Though he is more than capable of holding his own in any shootout and has a violent streak a mile wide--developed during his experience with hand-to-hand combat in Vietnam--about which he still has nightmares--he is more stable than he has been in the past, and "clean."

While transporting two prisoners, Robicheaux's partner disobeys protocol and stops at a restroom at the request of a prisoner, Jimmie Lee Boggs. The prisoner finds a hidden gun inside, kills Robicheaux's partner, and escapes. Because he is a witness and may be considered an accomplice to the murder of the cop, the other prisoner, young Tee Bone, who has already been convicted of a murder he may not have committed, has no choice but to run.

Determined to get Jimmie Lee Boggs, Robicheaux accepts the job of undercover agent for the DEA and moves to New Orleans from New Iberia. His past history makes it plausible to the gangsters running drugs that he has been fired from the police department, and he makes buys and sets up potential stings. When Robicheaux meets Tony Cardo, the head of the drug operation, he recognizes that Cardo has some of the same problems he has had, including addictions and nightmares from Vietnam, and though he knows the damage people like Cardo have done, he is also aware that Cardo is an extraordinary single parent to his severely handicapped child. Against his better judgment, he wants to help them both avoid the violence that is coming as thugs from Houston move in on the action.

The breakneck pace of the action and its excitement keep the reader going non-stop, and even the minor characters are well developed and often unique. The reader becomes more emotionally engaged here than in many other Robicheaux novels (especially the later ones), as Robicheaux, a man-on-the-edge, dares to love and be loved. With its vibrant New Orleans setting, A Morning for Flamingos has just about everything--a complex and fascinating mystery with complex and fascinating characters. n Mary Whipple

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5.0 out of 5 stars My first James Lee Burke, October 30, 2011

By 

wingn - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Morning For Flamingos (Kindle Edition)

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I will start an Odyssey now of the complete works.

Burke has a rare talent of creating the textbook thriller which engages the brain and keeps me thinking.

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius, June 9, 2011

By 

Frank McGrath (Ireland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Morning For Flamingos (Kindle Edition)

JLB once again combines poetic description of his hero's bayou home (thunderheads over the gulf), accurate dialogue (some gentlemens to see you, suh) and black humour. Love it.