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Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "IN THE EARLY 1980s, when I was still going steady with Jim Beam straight-up and a beer back, I became part of an exchange program..." (more)
Key Phrases: Whitey Bruxal, Monarch Little, Tony Lujan (more...)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drawing on classical antecedents, bestseller Burke peoples his 15th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2004's Crusader's Cross) with his usual assortment of near mythic characters, demonstrating how our everyday lives are beset with age-old, universal dilemmas. New Iberia, La., detective Dave Robicheaux, for whom redemption has become a lifelong pursuit, suits up once again to tilt against villains both real and in his own troubled psyche. Twenty-five years earlier, the young alcohol-soaked cop witnessed his friend and fellow Vietnam vet, Dallas Klein, executed by a group of cold-blooded thugs. He was unable to intercede because he was plastered. Now, a young grifter who may be the victim's daughter, Trish Klein, has appeared in New Iberia, passing counterfeit money and baiting Whitey Bruxal, the aging mobster responsible for Dallas's death. Meanwhile, Dave investigates the apparent suicide of pretty young co-ed Yvonne Darbonne. Are the two cases linked? Dave thinks so, and he enlists longtime loose-cannon sidekick Clete Purcel to prove it. With peerless naturalistic descriptions and lush, metaphysical imagery, Burke creates another challenging morality play for his flawed, everyman hero. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

In James Lee Burke's novels, the past in never farther away than the ripples on the bayou outside Dave Robicheaux's New Iberia, Louisiana, home. This time it's Robicheaux's dark personal history--when the detective "was still going steady with Jim Beam straight up and a beer back"--that interferes with the tranquil present for newly married Dave. When Trish Klein turns up in New Iberia, it doesn't take long for Robicheaux to realize she is the daughter of his old friend, Dallas, who died in an armored-car robbery that Dave witnessed but was too drunk to stop. To make amends, Robicheaux must solve the several interconnected murders that track back to the man behind the armored-car hit. Everything that makes this series so compelling--the elegiac, seductively lyrical prose; the complex character of Robicheaux; the lovingly evoked bayou setting-- is here in abundance, and if it doesn't galvanize into something quite as special as the last episode, Crusader's Cross (2005), that's only because we've come to expect so much from this series. The fact remains that no serious reader of hard-boiled fiction should ever miss a moment of Dave Robicheaux in action. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1St Edition edition (July 18, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743277724
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743277723
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #258,261 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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James Lee Burke
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IN THE EARLY 1980s, when I was still going steady with Jim Beam straight-up and a beer back, I became part of an exchange program between NOPD and a training academy for police cadets in Dade County, Florida. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Whitey Bruxal, Monarch Little, Tony Lujan, Yvonne Darbonne, Bello Lujan, New Orleans, Slim Bruxal, Lefty Raguza, Trish Klein, Cesaire Darbonne, Clete Purcel, New Iberia, Crustacean Man, Lonnie Marceaux, Betsy Mossbacher, Dallas Klein, Iberia Parish, Colin Alridge, Mack Bertrand, East Main, Helen Soileau, Miss Ellen, Bellerophon Lujan, Dave Robicheaux, Koko Hebert
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4.4 out of 5 stars (111 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars At the top of his game..., July 27, 2006
By Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews
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Last summer, I discovered James Lee Burke and ended up reading all 14 Dave Robicheaux mysteries in quick succession. Thank goodness Burke just came out with Pegasus Descending as it's been a long 8 months without a fix.

Dave Robicheaux is still a detective, working for the Iberia Sheriff's Department. The year is 2005 and three unsolved deaths are on Robicheaux's plate. First, a young co-ed getting ready for college is found with a gunshot wound to her head. It looks like a suicide, and the detective can't figure out why this apparently happy, well-adjusted girl would have taken too many drugs, had sex with more than a few men and then shot herself. The skeletal remains of a homeless man (nicknamed Crustacean Man) are found in a drainage ditch and seem to have sat there for 12 months. His injuries are not consistent with a hit and run. And a college student, Tony Lujan, is killed with a shotgun. Robicheaux suspects that all three deaths are related, but can't find the pieces that will tie this puzzle together. He keeps coming back to the same names: Bellerophon Lujan and Whitey Bruxal, two men who have mob ties and are in the casino business. Unfortunately, the politically ambitious DA, Lonnie Marceaux, wants to pin the crimes on a small-tine black drug dealer, Monarch Little. How Pegasus Descending plays out is riveting and I was completely surprised at the end.

Many of Burke's characters that we have grown to know and love are back. Cletus Purcell is always there for Robicheaux and is always good for a few belly laughs. Robicheaux seems a little more grounded with his new wife, the former nun Molly Boyle. The women in Robicheaux's past tended to be victim-types. So it's refreshing for Robicheaux to have two strong women in his corner, wife Molly and Sheriff Helen Soileau. There is a new female FBI agent in town who provides some comic relief. Betsy Mossbacher gets the nickname Calamity Jane when she backs into a sheriff's cruiser her first day in town. Robicheaux can't decide whether Homeland Security has drained the FBI of their "first team" or maybe she's being punished. But despite the humor, there is always an underlying blackness in Burke's books whether it is caused by Robicheaux's battle with alcoholism, lost opportunities, senseless deaths, and with Pegasus Descending, the looming specter of Hurricane Katrina.

Many writers of mystery series run out of energy, ideas, characters, etc. once they've been at it for awhile. Luckily for his readers, Burke is still at the top of his game in Pegasus Descending.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Pegasus is wet with atmosphere and a good read., July 19, 2006
By Robert Busko (Waynesville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
It just wouldn't be July or August without a Burke crafted Dave Robicheaux novel. In Pegasus Descending Burke treats us once again with a gritty, humid, and atmospheric thriller that is sure to satisfy all of Burkes loyal readers. I've said this before but I'll say it again, James Lee Burke is one of the finest descriptive writers alive today. He can describe a humid summer day in the pages of his book and you'll have to wipe your brow because of the sweat gathering there. The scenes and smells he describes will fill your senses. That and his cast of characters, including former Marine Clete Purcell makes each new book like a visit home.

Dave Robicheaux is a survivor of too much of a good thing. Long off the bottle he is still paying for his affair with alcohol and as another reviewer said, the past is never far away. Trish Klein, a young scam artist, turns out to be the daughter of Robicheaux's best friend and fellow Nam vet Dallas Klein. Robicheaux witnessed Dallas' execution style murder years before but was too blasted to intervene. Fast forward to now and young Trish has disappeared after ripping off a local mobster.

Burke has a love affair with NOLA. It will be interesting to see if he eventually incorporates Katrina into a future novel.



Pegasus is a must read for all Burke fans.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Pegasus Descending soars!, October 5, 2006
By The Librarian (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
Burke has reached perfection in his Robicheaux series with this book. It has every element needed to create a solid story. This time, Burke takes his beautiful writing and wraps it around a storyline that not only vividly flows, but contemplatively pulls together in the end. The difference between this book and the average suspense novel is Burke's lyrical writing and thrilling, quirky storylines and characters. I felt like breaking into song after I finished it, it's that good. Bravo, Burke!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars James Lee Burke's Pegasus Decending
If you've never had the pleasure of reading James Lee Burke, you don't know what you're missing. He keeps getting better and better. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Linda J. Martin

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Burke's best
Fun read, good mystery, rich characters, great philosophy. A great read. PS - you get a good story of riding out a hurricane.
Published 4 months ago by L. Booher

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great one
Not enough stars for this novel. Have not read a Dave Robicheaux Book that I haven't enjoyed. Mr. Burke can't write them fast enough for me.
Published 5 months ago by R. Mobley

4.0 out of 5 stars Burke is back
I am a HUGE Dave Robicheaux fan, but the last few novels (e.g., Crusader's Cross) have been . . . well . . . pretty stale and predictable. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Max Renn

2.0 out of 5 stars Peculiar Malaise, Character has run out
Pegasus Descending is a continuation of the Dave Robicheaux novels, and there in lies the trouble.

Burke is best at descriptive flights, and the word-smithing he puts... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Sandra Jones

5.0 out of 5 stars Burke always deserves more than 5
No one writes crime and mystery fiction like James Lee Burke. Anyone who doesn't stop and think "I wish I could write that," should be trying to get on Oprah's list. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Ron Lealos

2.0 out of 5 stars Pegasus Descending
The narrative's sanctimonious pomposity, the plot's absurdly thin veneer, the author's inability to get even simple facts (he thinks Lujan is not a Hispanic/Latino surname)... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Richard Chabot

4.0 out of 5 stars Harry Bosch's psychological baggage ain't got nothin' on Dave Robicheaux!
Twenty-five years ago, deep in his cups with a keg's worth of beer and accompanying chasers under his belt, an alcoholic Dave Robicheaux witnessed the gangland execution of his... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Paul Weiss

3.0 out of 5 stars Pegasus Desending
I have been a fan of Burke for a very long time, however I have cooled to his last few novels. They have become repetitive, and more importantly he has endeavored to interject... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Neil A. Kluver

2.0 out of 5 stars Reliving the Mayhem of Clete and Dave again

James Burke can write beautifully, but his story telling abilities have deteriorated in this series and the books all run together in both theme and violent action. Read more
Published 19 months ago by David W. Sugarman

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