A brilliant prose stylist, a preternaturally sensitive student of human nature, and a storyteller of the highest rank, James Lee Burke has created one of the classic characters of American fiction. Driven by a keen sense of right and wrong, forever in conflict with his twin demons of alcoholism and rage, Detective Dave Robicheaux is a flawed yet singularly sympathetic hero.

Detective Dave Robicheaux is back home in New Iberia Parish and once again on the trail of a killer. But when his best friend is accused of murder and his daughter gets involved with some shady business, Robicheaux will need to muster every ounce of guts, wit, and investigative chops he has to solve the case.

""Burke, whose sonorous cadences and obsession with the past have often recalled Faulkner, has never resembled the sage of Yoknapatawpha more closely than in this magnificent attempt to get it all down between one cap and one period. ""

--Kirkus (starred review)