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The Neon Rain

Series: Dave Robicheaux
3.91 goodreads logo

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( 27,816 ratings, 1,777 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke is a gripping tale set in the sultry depths of New Orleans, where detective Dave Robicheaux is drawn into a world of corruption and danger. As he investigates the murky circumstances surrounding a young woman's death, Robicheaux finds himself confronting powerful enemies and battling his own demons. The story masterfully combines elements of suspense and atmosphere, offering a vivid portrayal of the city's underbelly.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate gritty and atmospheric narratives with complex characters. It's perfect for readers who relish a strong sense of place and are captivated by stories blending mystery, crime, and vivid local colour. With its richly detailed storytelling and nuanced exploration of moral dilemmas, it will appeal to fans of hard-boiled detective fiction who enjoy emotional depth and a touch of southern gothic.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The outstanding first book in the ever-popular Dave Robicheaux series.

One of five early Jame Lee Burke titles new to Orion - alongside A Stained White Radiance, A Morning for Flamingos, Heaven's Prisoners and Black Cherry Blues Great series look for the Phoenix list Tremendous sales for all his titles - he consistently sells over 50,000 copies in paperback Burke has won the Gold Dagger once (Sunset Limited) and the Edgar Award twice (for this novel and Cimarron Rose) 'Critics are running out of superlatives to describe the writing of James Lee Burke' Observer

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Introducing the New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux. Johnny Massina, a convicted murderer bound for the electric chair, has warned Dave Robicheaux that he's on somebody's hit list, and now the homicide detective is trying to discover just who that is before he ends up dead.

Meanwhile, he has taken on the murder investigation of a young black girl found dead in the Bayou swampβ€”a case no one seems keen for him to investigate. But Robicheaux persists and uncovers a web of corruption that some would kill to protect, leading him to a terrifying confrontation with the one horror he fears most of all.

The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke is a gripping tale of suspense and mystery, showcasing the relentless determination of detective Dave Robicheaux as he navigates the dangerous underbelly of New Orleans.

Series: Dave Robicheaux

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  • A Private Cathedral
    Detective Dave Robicheaux is caught in the crossfire of Louisiana's oldest and bloodiest gangland feud... From the wreckage of Louisiana's oldest family rivalry, Detective Dave Robicheaux faces his most sinister enemy yet. Isolde and Johnny - the star-crossed teenage heirs to New Iberia's criminal empires - have run away together, and Robicheaux is tasked with finding them. But when his...
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  • Burning Angel
    Sonny Boy Marsallas, a New Orleans street hustler, entrusts Detective Dave Robicheaux with a mysterious notebook, kicking off a series of violent incidents and raising questions that need answers, and fast... What did Sonny's girlfriend know that got her murdered? Why is Sonny known as Red Angel by Central American guerrillas? And what do the Mafia want with a desolate...
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  • Clete
    In the latest Robicheaux novel, Clete Purcelβ€”veteran, private investigator, and former New Orleans copβ€”takes centre stage for the first time. Clete Purcelβ€”private investigator, ex-member of the New Orleans Police Department, and war veteran with a hard shell and just a few soft spotsβ€”is Dave Robicheaux's longtime friend and partner in detective work. But he has a troubled past. When Clete...
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  • The Hadacol Boogie
    When a cloaked, disfigured man leaves a dead woman in a garbage bag on Dave Robicheaux's property, he knows his world and family are about to change. With Valerie Benoit, a detective new to the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department who is grappling with sexist and racist harassment from their colleagues, and the volatile but fiercely loyal Clete Purcel, Dave embarks...
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  • Heaven's Prisoners
    Dave Robicheaux is trying to put a life of violence and crime behind him, leaving homicide to run a boat-rental business in Louisiana's bayou country. But one day, while fishing in the Gulf with his wife Annie, he witnesses an event that will change his life forever. A small two-engine plane suddenly crashes into the sea, and Robicheaux dives down...
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  • Cadillac Jukebox
    The call from ex-Klansman Aaron Crown couldn't have been more unexpected. Sentenced to forty years for the decades-old shooting of a civil rights activist, Crown should have been out of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, for good. Election candidate Buford LaRose wants Detective Dave Robicheaux to ignore Aaron's calls, promising Robicheaux a lucrative job when he makes governor. Worse still, Buford's wife,...
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  • Last Car To Elysian Fields
    It is a rainy late-summer's night in New Orleans. Detective Dave Robicheaux is about to confront the man who may have savagely assaulted his friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, a Catholic priest who's always at the centre of controversy. But things are never as they seem and soon Robicheaux is back in New Iberia, probing a car crash that killed three...
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  • Creole Belle
    Creole Belle begins where the last book in the Dave Robicheaux series, The Glass Rainbow, ended. Dave is in a recovery unit in New Orleans, where a Creole girl named Tee Jolie Melton visits him and leaves him an iPod with the country blues song 'Creole Belle' on it. Then she disappears. Dave becomes obsessed with the song and the...
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  • Light of the World
    James Lee Burke's legendary detective Dave Robicheaux returns to try to save his daughter from a sadistic killer. When Detective Dave Robicheaux's daughter, Alafair, declares her intention to interview a convicted serial killer called Asa Surette, he does all he can to dissuade her. Dave has always encouraged her ambitions as a writer, but as a father he doesn't want...
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  • A Morning For Flamingos
    'No argument: James Lee Burke is among the finest of all contemporary American novelists' DAILY MAIL A routine assignment transporting two death-row prisoners to their executions goes fatally wrong, leaving Dave Robicheaux brutally wounded and his partner dead. Obsessed with revenge, Dave is persuaded by the DEA to go undercover into the torrid sleepy depths of New Orleans, a volatile...
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  • A Stained White Radiance
    A bullet shot through the window of Weldon Sonnier's house propels Dave Robicheaux back into the lives of a family he's not sure he wants to be reacquainted with. Weldon Sonnier's CIA-influenced past has led to dangerous connections and commitments, including debts to local mob boss Joey 'Meatballs' Gouza. As Weldon puts himself in the line of fire, Lyle Sonnier,...
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  • In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead
    Hunting a sadistic killer who targets young prostitutes, Detective Dave Robicheaux has no mind to be sidetracked into persuading ex-schoolmate mobster Julie 'Baby Feet' Balboni to leave town. And it turns out that Balboni is the money behind a Civil War movie that's bringing in good business. But then the film crew stumbles on a skeleton out in the bayou,...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

James Lee Burke's The Neon Rain is celebrated for blending detective fiction with serious literary elements. Reviewers admire its intricate plot, lyrical prose, and well-crafted characters. The novel is noted for tackling hot topics while exploring the human condition, set against the evocative backdrop of New Orleans. Critics have praised Burke as a masterful writer of American crime fiction, likening his work to that of literary greats.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780753820339

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 16 June 2005

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 131.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 236g

Pages: 320

About the Author

James Lee Burke is the author of twenty-two previous novels, including twelve featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana and New Iberia, Louisiana.

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  • Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie
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    New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke brings readers a captivating tale of justice, love, brutality, and mysticism set in the turbulent 1960s. The American West in the early 1960s appears to be a pastoral paradise: golden wheat fields, mist-filled canyons, frolicking animals. Aspiring novelist Aaron Holland Broussard has observed it from the open door of a boxcar, riding...
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  • A Private Cathedral
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  • Burning Angel
    Sonny Boy Marsallas, a New Orleans street hustler, entrusts Detective Dave Robicheaux with a mysterious notebook, kicking off a series of violent incidents and raising questions that need answers, and fast... What did Sonny's girlfriend know that got her murdered? Why is Sonny known as Red Angel by Central American guerrillas? And what do the Mafia want with a desolate...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Clete
    In the latest Robicheaux novel, Clete Purcelβ€”veteran, private investigator, and former New Orleans copβ€”takes centre stage for the first time. Clete Purcelβ€”private investigator, ex-member of the New Orleans Police Department, and war veteran with a hard shell and just a few soft spotsβ€”is Dave Robicheaux's longtime friend and partner in detective work. But he has a troubled past. When Clete...
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    When a cloaked, disfigured man leaves a dead woman in a garbage bag on Dave Robicheaux's property, he knows his world and family are about to change. With Valerie Benoit, a detective new to the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department who is grappling with sexist and racist harassment from their colleagues, and the volatile but fiercely loyal Clete Purcel, Dave embarks...
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  • Heaven's Prisoners
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  • Creole Belle
    Creole Belle begins where the last book in the Dave Robicheaux series, The Glass Rainbow, ended. Dave is in a recovery unit in New Orleans, where a Creole girl named Tee Jolie Melton visits him and leaves him an iPod with the country blues song 'Creole Belle' on it. Then she disappears. Dave becomes obsessed with the song and the...
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    'No argument: James Lee Burke is among the finest of all contemporary American novelists' DAILY MAIL A routine assignment transporting two death-row prisoners to their executions goes fatally wrong, leaving Dave Robicheaux brutally wounded and his partner dead. Obsessed with revenge, Dave is persuaded by the DEA to go undercover into the torrid sleepy depths of New Orleans, a volatile...
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