Review of A Morning for Flaminos: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke

I mentioned in my review of the Harry Potter Series that it was important to read the books in order. It’s not that you wouldn’t get something good out of each if you didn’t, but one book adds to the previous ones in terms of characters and plot flow. To not read them in order would leave you in the dark about a number of things. And those gaps would only be filled as you go back and read the ones that came before. But there is another reason for reading a series in order. You find out things, important things, that make you aware of what happens in the previous books. And so when you get to the ones that came before much of the surprise is gone. You already know what is going to happen. For me this was absolutely the case relative to James Lee Burke’s lengthy series featuring the character of Dave Robicheaux. At times I felt almost omniscient, knowing what was going to happen and powerless in stopping it. After all this is a mystery series. The last thing you want to know in a mystery is how it is going to end! Especially if it is not going to end well for some of the characters that you have grown fond of! Fortunately, with A Morning for Flamingos I have picked up the story of Dave Robicheaux when I no longer have a clue as to how the story will unfold or end. Keeping the element of surprise open for me and relieving me of my sense of omniscience. Thank God! A Morning for Flamingos is Burke’s fourth novel in the Robicheaux series. The previous ones being in order The Neon Rain, Heaven’s Prisoners, and Black Cherry Blues. Read those first and then continue in this remarkable and entertaining series with this one. In his on again/off again role as a cop, A Morning for Flamingos has Robicheaux on again as a detective for the New Iberia police force. The story begins with Dave and his partner transporting two prisoners to the state penitentiary for execution, Jimmie Lee Boggs and Tee Beau Latiolas. Boggs succeeds in an elaborately planned escape, killing Dave’s partner and seriously wounding Dave. Setting Dave off on a quest to bring Boggs to justice that draws him into the underbelly of New Orleans’ crime culture as he is recruited by the DEA for a sting operation to take down a mafia kingpin in New Orleans, Tony Cardo. As all this unfolds Dave finds himself having to deal with some of the internal demons that plague his subconscious from the horrors he experienced as a Marine officer in Viet Nam, as well as his past as an alcoholic drowning in his boilermakers. An old flame surfaces in this story that provides him much needed support. Of course, there is his adopted daughter, Alafair; and his side kick; Clete Purcell who keep him grounded and, in Clete’s case, alive. Burke is so incredibly descriptive in painting a picture of the Cajon culture and the moment-by-moment experiences of his primary protagonist and all those whose lives intersect with his for good or ill. Some of his characters are clearly evil, but most reflect the real complexity that makes up the human predicament and Burke brings that out remarkably well in this and his other novels. He makes me want to go to New Orleans and sit outside the Café du Monde, enjoying a beignet, and, ala Thomas Merton, watch the mélange of humanity pass by, acknowledging within myself the value each has in the eyes of the only omniscient One. Reviewed by Richard Dick, Library Assistant, O’Kelly Memorial Library