A Morning for Flamingos
by James Lee Burke
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Book Summary Information
Author: James Lee BurkeEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991-08-01
ISBN: 0380713608
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Avon
Book Reviews of A Morning for Flamingos
Book Review: Hitting his stride...
Summary: 5 Stars
In A Morning for Flamingos (the fourth Dave Robicheaux mystery), James Lee Burke really hits his stride. This is the best book yet of the six that I've read.
Since Black Cherry Blues, Robicheaux is once again working for the Iberia Sheriff's Department. After fighting a murder charge in book three, he needs to pay off his debts. On a routine transfer of two death row inmates, one of the inmates, Jimmie Lee Boggs, plans an escape. Robicheaux is shot and another detective is killed. At the end of a three month recovery, a DEA agent from a former book, Minor Dautrieve, calls Robicheaux with a proposal. Dautrieve wants Robicheaux to go undercover in New Orleans for the DEA. They will tell everyone he's been fired from law enforcement and are hoping that Robicheaux will lead them to a major mobster in town, Tony Cardo. Robicheaux is reluctant at first, but takes the job in an effort to find Jimmie Lee Boggs (who has been seen in New Orleans).
As the book progresses, Robicheaux gets to know Cardo and the closer he gets, the more conflicted he becomes. Cardo may be a Mafioso, but he's also a loving father to a handicapped son, a tortured Viet Nam vet and a loyal friend. His feelings for Cardo become a major complication with the potential to jeopardize the entire undercover operation. One other complication is the introduction of Bootsie-an old girlfriend whose former husband had mob ties.
In A Morning for Flamingos, Burke is running on all cylinders. His writing is always first rate, but the plot is more inventive and gets away from the formula we've come to expect. While Dautrieve tells Robicheaux "we can't have Wyatt Earp on the payroll," Robicheaux actually shows a little restraint for once. It is Cletus Purcel who starts behaving like a rogue cowboy. Robicheaux operates within the law, while Purcel functions on the fringe. The dynamics of this relationship will continue to develop in future books. But where Burke really excels is his character development. Tony Cardo may coordinate mob activities and drug dealing in southern Louisiana, but Burke portrays him as a tortured and conflicted man. For probably the first time in his 50 years, Robicheaux starts seeing things in other than black and white. And the shades of gray start clouding his vision and his judgment. Burke also shows us how it is possible to love a city and hate it at the same time. Robicheaux as a cop has certainly seen the grimmer side of The Big Easy including the welfare projects that produced prostitution, "rats, cockroaches, incest, rape, child molestation, narcotics and sadistic street gangs," as well as murder. Ironically, Hurricane Katrina has given that steamier side of New Orleans a national audience.
After Heavenly Prisoners, I decided to read two more Robicheaux and then take a break. But after the last two books, I'm not going to be able to wait too long for book number five!
Summary of A Morning for Flamingos
Clutching the shards, of his shattered life, Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux has rejoined the New lberia police force.
His partner is dead -- slain during a condemned prisoner's bloodyflight to freedom that left Robicheaux critically wounded...and reawakened the ghost of his haunted, violent past.
Now he's trailing a killer into the sordid head of die Big Easy-caught up in the lethal undercurrents of a mob double-cross...confronting his most dangerous enemy: himself
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