jakewritesbooks 's review for:

Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke
3.0

I want to go through the David Robicheaux series for two reasons: 1. I love Louisiana and 2. I want to see how Burke develops this story. After enjoying Heaven's Prisoners, I found this a step back for multiple reasons...

1. Burke pads an already thin story with a lot of introspection and dream sequences featuring Robicheaux's murdered wife. I usually don't mind the introspection but I felt like he got carried away here and the sequences, while scenic and sometimes touching, didn't add much to the story.

2. Is every Italian in south Louisiana a mobster? And does every mob boss Dave whacks have to get replaced by another?

3. Yet another use of LGBTQIA+ villainy.

The story is good, I liked Dixie's character (an obvious stand-in for Jerry Lee Lewis) and I didn't mind the transfer to a Montana setting as much as I thought I would. But in terms of developing the series, this entry felt like a step back.