James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce (USA 2018)

From the Publisher:
Dave Robicheaux is back in this powerful New York Times bestseller that takes him into the underbelly of New Iberia's mafia to solve the brutal murder of two teenage girls.

When a beautiful teenage girl is killed, New Iberia police detective Dave Robicheaux senses that the most likely suspect, Tee Bobby Hulin, is not the actual killer. Though a drug addict and general neer-do-well, Hulin just doesn't fit the profile for this kind of crime. He's a Cajun blues singer (one of his songs is titled "Jolie Blon's Bounce"), and he's been raised by his grandmother Ladice Hulin, a proud and strong-willed black woman.

But when there's another, similar murder -- this victim a drugged-out prostitute who happens to be the daughter of one of the local mafia bigwigs -- the cries for an arrest become too loud to ignore. The mafia figure, however, prefers to take matters in his own hand and sets out to find -- and punish -- the killer himself. Once again, Tee Bobby Hulin seems the most likely suspect.

Added to the mix of characters on the good guy side of the balance sheet is Clete Purcel, a long-time buddy of Robicheaux's and a confirmed boozer and womanizer. Coming to New Iberia for a visit, Clete is quickly drawn into the struggle between the various forces of evil in the town: Jimmy Dean Styles, a black man intent on maintaining his empire of corruption; Joe Zeroski, a trailer-park mafioso with palatial aspirations -- and of course Legion Guidrey, the devil incarnate.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce. A Dave Robicheaux Novel. Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 9781982100247 (April, 2018), 449 p., $16.00.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce (UK 2010)

From the Publisher:
America's most acclaimed crime writer and winner of the 1998 CWA/Macallan Gold Dagger returns to Louisiana with his great detective, Dave Robicheaux
Three men are present when Amanda Boudreau is raped and murdered, and small-time hustler Tee Bobby Hulin's prints are found at the crime scene. Dave Robicheaux reckons he's innocent, and Tee Bobby pleads so, then attempts suicide in his holding cell. Why?

Tee Bobby is released on bail and soon after there is a second murder. When lawyer Perry LaSalle takes on the defence of Tee Bobby, Dave knows his motives are fuelled by guilt. For Tee Bobby's grandmother was seduced by Perry's grandfather, and Amanda Boudreau's death is related to events that happened long before Tee Bobby was born...

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce. Orion eBook, ISBN: 9781409132875 (November, 2010), 905 KB (ca. 482 p.), £6.99.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
New Iberia, Louisiana, is reeling from a one-two punch of brutal rape-homicides, and drug-addicted blues singer Tee Bobby Hulin has been tagged as the prime suspect. No stranger to bucking popular opinion, police detective Dave Robicheaux senses it's not Hulin behind the atrocities. But while placating a town on fire for swift revenge, Robicheaux must face his own demons -- an ultimate reckoning with Legion Guidry, a diabolical figure whose hardcore brand of violence left Robicheaux humiliated and addicted to painkillers. With his longtime friend, the boozing and womanizing Clete Purcel, Robicheaux treads among land mines of injustice, mob payoffs, and deadly secrets, all the while guessing: whom can he trust -- and whom should he fear?

James Lee Burke brings back his acclaimed hero Dave Robicheaux in this powerful New York Times bestseller packed with suspense and menace.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce. Pocket Star Books, ISBN: 0743411447 (October, 2003), 449 p., $7.99.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
Three men are present when Amanda Boudreau is raped and murdered, and small-time hustler Tee Bobby Hulin's prints are found at the crime scene. Dave Robicheaux reckons he's innocent, and Tee Bobby pleads so, then attempts suicide in his holding cell. Why?

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752849565 (May, 2003), 375 p., £6.99.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce (UK 2002)

From the Publisher:
Small-time black hustler Tee Bobby Hulin is partly redeemed, in Robicheaux's eyes, by a rare musical gift. Three men are present when Amanda Boudreau is raped and murdered, and Tee Bobby's prints are found at the crime scene. Dave reckons he's innocent, and Tee Bobby pleads so, then attempts suicide in his holding cell. Why? Soon after, hooker and junkie Linda Zeroski is beaten to death by a man wearing leather gloves who, with great care and precision, crushes every bone in her face. Louisiana's murky history casts a long shadow in the work of James Lee Burke, but nowhere longer than here, with the LaSalles family, who settled there before the Louisiana Purchase and built their wealth upon the backs of slave labour. When lawyer Perry LaSalles takes on the defence of Tee Bobby Hulin, Dave knows his motives are fuelled by guilt. For Tee Bobby's grandmother Ladice was seduced by Perry's grandfather, and Amanda Boudreau's death is related to events that happened long before Tee Bobby was born. In this rich and compelling novel James Lee Burke weaves a web of plots and subplots involving perfectly observed characters.Dense with passion and compassion, Burke's novels get better and better.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752851225 (August, 2002), 349 p., £12.99.

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
James Lee Burke, acclaimed by critics as "America's best novelist," "the Graham Greene of the bayou," and "a poet of the mystery novel," returns with his popular character, Dave Robicheaux, in a novel rich with atmosphere, ripe with menace, and filled with the kind of crackling dialogue that has made Burke a consistent New York Times best-selling author.

When a beautiful teenage girl is killed, the victim of a particularly savage rape, New Iberia, Louisiana, police detective Dave Robicheaux senses from the very start of the investigation that the most likely suspect, Tee Bobby Hulin, is not the actual killer. Though a drug addict and general ne'er-do-well, Hulin just doesn't fit the profile for this kind of brutal crime.

But when another murder occurs -- this victim a drugged-out prostitute who happens to be the daughter of one of the local mafia bigwigs -- all clues once again point to Tee Bobby Hulin, and the cries for arrest become too loud to ignore. The dead girl's father, however, prefers to take matters in his own hands and sets out to find -- and punish -- the killer himself.

But before Robicheaux can solve these crimes and bring the killer or killers to justice, he is forced to battle his own inner demons, including a painkiller addiction, a habit that begins as the result of a brutal and humiliating beating he suffers at the hands of the mysterious and diabolical character known as Legion. A fixture in the area for years, Legion was once the overseer on a local sugarcane plantation and now gets by doing odd jobs. In temperament, however, he's still the malicious and malevolent bully he always was, a man defined by evil and seemingly possessed with supernatural skills of survival.

Added to the mix, and on the good guy side of the balance sheet, is Clete Purcel, a longtime buddy of Robicheaux's and a confirmed boozer and womanizer. Clete comes to New Iberia for a visit and is quickly drawn into the struggle between the various forces of evil in the town, including Jimmy Dean Styles, a black man intent on maintaining his empire of corruption Joe Zeroski, a trailer park mafioso with palatial aspirations -- and of course, Legion Guidry, the devil incarnate, in whom Robicheaux finds himself facing a challenge and an enemy unlike any he has ever known. And soon, what began as a duel of wits has turned into a dance of death.

Gothic, dense, brutal, touching, and always compelling, Jolie Blon's Bounce is classic storytelling from a writer who has been dubbed "the Faulkner of crime fiction."

James Lee Burke: Jolie Blon's Bounce. A Novel. Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 0743204840 (June, 2002), 349 p., $25.00.