Clete: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

In the latest installment in his famous Detective Dave Robicheaux series, New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke brings Dave's partner and friend Clete Purcel to the forefront for the first time as Clete and Dave attempt to stop ruthless smugglers of a dangerous new drug

Clete Purcel - private investigator, ex-member of the New Orleans Police Department, and war veteran with a hard shell and just a few soft spots - is Dave Robicheaux's longtime friend and partner in detective work. But he has a troubled past. When Clete leaves his car at the local car wash, only to return to find it ransacked by a group of thugs tied to the drug trade from Mexican cartels to Louisiana, it feels personal - his grandniece died of a fentanyl overdose, and his fists curl when he thinks of the dealers who sold it.

Just as Clete starts to trail the culprits, Clara Bow, a woman with a dark past hires Clete as a detective to investigate her scheming, slippery ex-husband, and a string of brutal deaths all link back to a heavily tattooed man who seems to lurk around every corner. Clete is experiencing shockingly lifelike hallucinations and questioning Clara's ulterior motives when he and Dave start to hear rumors of a dangerous substance with potentially catastrophic effects. The thugs who destroyed his car might have been pawns in a scheme far darker than they could've imagined.

Gripping, violent, yet interlaced with Clete's humor and consistent drive to protect those he loves, Clete brings a fresh perspective to a truly iconic series. James Lee Burke proves yet again that he is the "heavyweight champ" and "great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed" (Michael Connelly).

Author: James Lee Burke
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Published: 06/11/2024
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780802163073


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/15/2024 pg. 43
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2024
Publishers Weekly 05/06/2024

About the Author
James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling
author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, winner of the CWA Gold Dagger and
the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and the recipient of the Guggenheim
Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He has authored forty novels and two
short story collections. He lives in Missoula, Montana.