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.
