In the latest Robicheaux novel, Clete Purcel - veteran, private investigator, and former New Orleans cop - takes centre stage for the first time.

****

Clete Purcel - private investigator, ex-member of the New Orleans Police Department, and war veteran with a hard shell and just a few soft spots - is Dave Robicheaux's longtime friend and partner in detective work. But he has a troubled past.

When Clete leaves his car at the local car wash, only to return to find it ransacked by a group of thugs tied to the drug trade from Mexican cartels to Louisiana, it feels personal - his grandniece died of a fentanyl overdose, and his fists curl when he thinks of the dealers who sold it.

Just as Clete starts to trail the culprits, Clara Bow hires Clete as a detective to investigate her scheming, slippery ex-husband, and a string of brutal deaths all link back to a heavily tattooed man who seems to lurk around every corner. Clete is experiencing shockingly lifelike hallucinations and questioning Clara's ulterior motives when he and Dave start to hear rumors of a dangerous substance with potentially catastrophic effects. The thugs who destroyed his car might have been pawns in a scheme far darker than they could've imagined.

Gripping, violent, yet interlaced with Clete's humor and consistent drive to protect those he loves, Clete brings a fresh perspective to a truly iconic series.

****

PRAISE FOR JAMES LEE BURKE, THE AWARD-WINNING KING OF SOUTHERN NOIR:

'James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed' Michael Connelly

'A gorgeous prose stylist' Stephen King

'No argument: James Lee Burke is among the finest of all contemporary American novelists' Daily Mail

'The greatest crime writer currently at work' Spectator

'The reigning champ of nostalgia noir' New York Times

'Masterly' Sunday Telegraph