Crusader's Cross

A Dave Robicheaux Novel

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Critically acclaimed and best-selling crime writer James Lee Burke returns to Louisiana where his ever-popular hero, Dave Robicheaux, sleuths his way through a hotbed of sin and uncertainty.

For Dave Robicheaux, life in Louisiana is filled with haunting memories of the past. In Crusader's Cross, a deathbed confession from an old schoolmate resurrects a story of injustice, the murder of a young woman, and a time in Robicheaux's life he has tried to forget.

Her name may or may not have been Ida Durbin. It was back in the innocent days of the 1950s when Robicheaux and his brother, Jimmie, met her on a Galveston beach. She was pretty, and Jimmie fell for her hard, not knowing she was a prostitute on infamous Post Office Street, with ties to the mob. Then Ida was abducted and never seen again.

Now, decades later, Robicheaux is asking questions about Ida Durbin, and a couple of redneck deputy sheriffs make it clear that asking questions is a dangerous game. With a series of horrifying murders and the sudden appearance of Valentine Chalons and his sister, Robicheaux is soon involved with the murderous energies of the New Orleans underworld.

©2005 James Lee Burke (P)2005 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division.

Burke At His Best

Dave falls off the wagon and manages to impale himself on a cross of his own making. At one point, it looks very bleak for Dave indeed. Of course, we know that Dave will overcome, but how he does makes for excellent listening.

I've read that Dave can be ethically challenged. This is the first book I've listend to where I finally understand that comment.

Will Patton's narration is as usual, excellent, although he does have a tendency to be "breathy."
His characterization defines Clete Purcell.

This one will keep you sitting in the car or have your headphones glued to your ears.

Good Ole Dave

Typical Dave, you say, "please don't do it" and he does it and gets in deep trouble. Will Patton makes these books come alive! He is absolutely the best at getting out what James Lee Burke puts into a book. Love his Cajun dialect, when he uses it. Great Book.

Maybe too much Dave

I like the Dave Robicheaux series and have always read, not listened to them. I don't know if it was the fact that I was listening or that it is one book too many in the series but I find the descriptions of weather, smells, memories repetitive and not always relevant - almost as if the author is getting too caught up in the sound of his own voice. While a good mystery, it was almost as if he said "OK, long enough, I have to end it now", without tying up the threads.

Crusader's Cross lets you in how "rich" LA could be.

I liked this audiobook esp because Will Patton told the story.

LA is a very rich State! Rich in it's History! Needs a man to run it with kid gloves!

Excellent writing but characters hard to love

He’s an accomplished writer. Paced and deliberate. Very good command of language. Characters are deeper and more nuanced than most. Excellent knowledge of material. Characters are hard to like and relate to. Very real though. I loved the narrator. Very dark view of life.

Another Robicheaux Brooder

While the story is a good one, it is the people in the story that hold you. Dave and Clete are good guys, but hardly in white hats. They have their own darkness that makes them just the right guys to go after the bad guys, who don't wear such black hats themselves. Then there is the atmosphere. The darkness and immediacy of the Lousiana bayou seems to be another character that develops from book to book, just like the dark side of both the good guys and bad guys. Will Patton is just the best at Burke's books. He seems to really get the voices and accents.

always a pleasure

Can't beat a Burke/Patton combo.? Burke always delivers and Patton is so smooth you are transferred right through the narrating like you can touch the leaves and feel like you are walking the streets of NO.?

Southern Sound

Will Patton's authentic, sweet, soft, southern drawl is music to my southern ears and the perfect voice for Dave and the other memorable New Iberia characters! Engaging, entertaining, and addicting, Crusader's Cross is Robicheaux (I mean Burke!) at his best.

Another Monet with words.

Buying a book for my brother’s birthday several years ago, one of James Lee Burke’s books was recommended to me. Unfamiliar with Burke, I wanted to sample his writing and couldn’t put the book down. I became an immediate fan of Dave Robicheaux, Burke’s recurring character and one suspects his alter ego. The writing is tight, with serpentine but believable plots, and packed with action. Characters and scenes are beautifully painted with words. A Faulkneresque Monet. Burke is quite simply the best contemporary American mystery writer out there. The only thing separating him from being a great writer beyond his time is the inability to transcend his mystery genre, and he has tried. Outside of Robicheaux, the writing lacks the intensity and conviction. Inside is greatness. Burke should be required reading for advanced writing and literature courses except, I suspect, parents and school boards might have a problem with some of the language and sometimes lurid scenes.

Editing

The narrator is excellent but the cut from the end of chapter to next is without any pause to absorb ending. Very annoying and unprofessional. Don’t know who edited that way. Grrrrr