In 1997, James Lee Burke was out on book tour for his novel "Cimarron
Rose." He stopped by our studios to do a live interview. That book went
on to win an Edgar Award. Little did I know then that we had many more
conversations in our future — 25 of them so far.
Burke stopped touring for his books years ago but that hasn't slowed him
down one bit. He'll be 90 years old in December, and during this latest
conversation he told me he's currently writing yet another book in his
extraordinary Dave Robicheaux series.
We talked about his latest,"The Hadacol Boogie." This is the longest
Robicheaux yet. Burke remains in fine form. They story feels like it
came cascading out of his pen. Dave Robicheuax and his best buddy Clete
Purcel are up to their usual hijinks, tracking down the bad guys and
exacting punishment upon them. This is an edgy novel, Dave and Clete are
simmering throughout, always seemingly on the verge of blowing their
tops.
With this interview I have now spoken to James Lee Burke for his last 22
consecutive books. He's always on my calendar. You might be wondering,
is he my favorite writer to interview? Well, those numbers don't lie, no
other author has made anywhere close to this many appearances on the
program. The crime writer Robert Crais is in a distant second place.
He's younger that James Lee Burke, but he also writes more slowly. For
every novel Crais releases Burke puts out two! What a prodigious body of
work Burke has created. I cannot wait for the next one. As usual, he
wouldn't say much about it except that Dave and Clete will be going
underwater, into the ocean, looking for pyramids...what?! Wow, that
really has me wondering and excited about where those two will end up
next.
