Tin Roof Blowdown
A bunch of people recommended the new James Lee Burke – Tin Roof Blowdown – saying it was one of his finest Dave Robicheaux mysteries not just because it dealt with Katrina. I don’t think so. I think Burke’s descriptions of New Iberia and New Orleans are some of the most evocative ever written, but this book was a boiler plate redo of past novels with the characters starting to border on cardboard cut outs. When Clete’s girlfriend du jour turns up dead, his reaction is about as dark as a paper witch on Halloween. Not to mention the Katrina references are all shocking and very rarely soulfull about possibly the biggest event to color the landscape he so adoringly describes.