James Lee Burke Books

Try In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead.

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it seems like he tried to make it "too Cajun".

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I've read 3 of his books and I feel the same way. He tries too hard. Maybe people who didn't grow up in S. Louisiana might not feel that way. I got to the point where it seemed like he took a decent story and then just inserted "Cajun details" to it.

I felt the same way on my first read, like he was trying too hard to make it cultural. Then, I gradually got hooked - by the seedy characters, the scenery, and Dave's challenges. I read one every summer now, but it helps to not live in bayou country anymore. It becomes nostalgic. Oh, and I spent my first 12 years in New Iberia, so it's a bit of a homecoming.

I've taken them in order myself. I think I'm on number 8 or so. Sunset Limited, I think.

I never thought so. I turned my Dad onto JLB, and he said you could tell he had spent a lot of time in south Louisiana, because he mentioned places that didn't exist anymore, or had been closed for years.

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really let down

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Think expectations when you choose an author. What do you expect from what you are going to read?

There is great to pretty good literature - like the classics, like LotR, like A Confederacy of Dunces, like Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. Expect the best.

Then there is what I think of as very readable modern and/or popular entertainment - if you will, a "bubble gum for the brain" genre. Tom Clancy comes to mind, Randy Wayne White, Patterson, Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Baldacci, J.D. Robb, J. Grisham, Dean Koontz, and many, many others. Not necessarily great or even particularly good literature, but still fun and engaging reads in their own right. Expectations are the thing.

I think James Lee Burke fits into the bubble gum slot; I've read all his books and while they follow a sort of story arc template, they are very much entertaining - or they were for me.

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Try In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead.

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If he didn't like Neon Rain then I'm not sure he'll like that one

He's a poet. Just enjoy the writing. I've read them all. All the plots (of each series anyway) sort of blend together for me. But I enjoy them all.

Try non-Robicheaux ones and Montana ones.

I read the latest (titled Robicheaux) a few weeks ago. I loved it.

Eta: as mentioned above--expectations. This isn't intricate mystery novel stuff. The past several I've done in audio form, with Will Patton reading. He's excellent. Good driving, skiing, working books.