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Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries) Hardcover – July 18, 2006

by James Lee Burke (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,870 ratings
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Precariously content in his strict AA lifestyle at the side of a woman he loves, New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux finds his peace shattered by the appearance of a woman who is passing stolen money and the suicide of another woman who may be the daughter of Dave's long-time friend. 200,000 first printing.
Previous page
  1. Book 15 of 24
    Dave Robicheaux
  2. Print length
    368 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  5. Publication date
    July 18, 2006
  6. Dimensions
    6.75 x 1.25 x 10 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0743277724
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0743277723
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drawing on classical antecedents, bestseller Burke peoples his 15th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2004's Crusader's Cross) with his usual assortment of near mythic characters, demonstrating how our everyday lives are beset with age-old, universal dilemmas. New Iberia, La., detective Dave Robicheaux, for whom redemption has become a lifelong pursuit, suits up once again to tilt against villains both real and in his own troubled psyche. Twenty-five years earlier, the young alcohol-soaked cop witnessed his friend and fellow Vietnam vet, Dallas Klein, executed by a group of cold-blooded thugs. He was unable to intercede because he was plastered. Now, a young grifter who may be the victim's daughter, Trish Klein, has appeared in New Iberia, passing counterfeit money and baiting Whitey Bruxal, the aging mobster responsible for Dallas's death. Meanwhile, Dave investigates the apparent suicide of pretty young co-ed Yvonne Darbonne. Are the two cases linked? Dave thinks so, and he enlists longtime loose-cannon sidekick Clete Purcel to prove it. With peerless naturalistic descriptions and lush, metaphysical imagery, Burke creates another challenging morality play for his flawed, everyman hero. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In James Lee Burke's novels, the past in never farther away than the ripples on the bayou outside Dave Robicheaux's New Iberia, Louisiana, home. This time it's Robicheaux's dark personal history--when the detective "was still going steady with Jim Beam straight up and a beer back"--that interferes with the tranquil present for newly married Dave. When Trish Klein turns up in New Iberia, it doesn't take long for Robicheaux to realize she is the daughter of his old friend, Dallas, who died in an armored-car robbery that Dave witnessed but was too drunk to stop. To make amends, Robicheaux must solve the several interconnected murders that track back to the man behind the armored-car hit. Everything that makes this series so compelling--the elegiac, seductively lyrical prose; the complex character of Robicheaux; the lovingly evoked bayou setting-- is here in abundance, and if it doesn't galvanize into something quite as special as the last episode, Crusader's Cross (2005), that's only because we've come to expect so much from this series. The fact remains that no serious reader of hard-boiled fiction should ever miss a moment of Dave Robicheaux in action. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; First Editiion Second Printing edition (July 18, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743277724
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743277723
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.25 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,870 ratings

About the author

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James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke

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James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He’s authored thirty-seven novels and two short story collections. He lives in Missoula, Montana.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,870 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Steven Christensen
5.0 out of 5 stars One of JLB's Best Novels!
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2022
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It is the early 1980s when NOPD detective Dave Robicheaux is spending the afternoon sitting in a sleazy saloon in Opa Locka Florida getting hammered on cheap booze. Gazing out the window he witnesses a armed robbery going down across the street and a good friend of his gunned down with a shotgun.

Fast forward about twenty years and Dave is now a deputy sheriff in Iberia Parish involved in the investigation of a homeless man run down on a deserted highway, the suicide of a young Cajun girl and an altercation between Monarch Little, a black gangbanger and the two sons of a couple of local wealthy criminals, one of whom may be responsible for the death of his friend all those years ago.

How and do these isolated events interact is the crux of a complicated plot including the daughter of his murdered friend now in the area as part of a group of young folks scamming casinos and an over ambitious district attorney obsessed with taking down Monarch for several crimes. This is a terrific story in and of itself but it is so much more.

I think back about the compelling relationship between Monarch and Dave as well as that between Clete and Dave, two men so completely opposite but in so many ways the same. The seem to understand each other more than they understand themselves at times. Finally there is the beautiful prose of the author that captivates the reader and I often find myself going back and rereading passages for their beauty and the meaning underlying the words themselves. This is one of the best books by The Grand Master, James Lee Burke.
3 people found this helpful
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Mama of Five
4.0 out of 5 stars Ink on front cover a definite downer
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2024
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This book is in near-perfect condition except for the number 15 written on the cover in black ink. I was very disappointed to see that. It really takes away from what, otherwise, would be a great-looking book.
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Wayne C. Rogers
5.0 out of 5 stars The continuation of a great series!!!
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2007
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Of the fifteen "Dave Robicheaux" novels that James Lee Burke has written, his newest one, Pegasus Descending, is definitely the most complex. Most of his books have a couple of plotlines for the characters to follow that are resolved at the end. Pegasus Descending has about seven plotlines that intertwine, and I found myself hard pressed to keep all of the characters straight in my mind and how their roles kept changing. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the novel. I did, but it certainly required a lot of work on my part.

The story basically revolves around Robicheaux finally getting retribution for the death of his old friend, Dallas Klein, who was killed many years before during a bank robbery. Robicheaux tried to take out the bad guys during the hold-up, but was drunk at the time and couldn't aim properly. He always blamed himself for Klein's death. Now, Klein's daughter, Trish, is in New Iberia, pulling scams at the local casinos that are now owned by the man who ordered her father's death. Robicheaux has to figure out what to do with her, but that soon becomes a mute point when she inadvertently hooks up with his best friend, Clete Purcel. Trish and Purcel hit it off as she continues to figure up ways to draw out the man who killed her dad. Robicheaux then has his attention divided when the body of a murdered homeless man is discovered along a drainage ditch and a young girl dies from an apparent suicide. Add to that a lot of racial tension between the town's main gangbanger and the son of the man whom Trish Klein is after. This time around, Robicheaux is going to have his hands full trying to do his job, while keeping his chief happy, the FBI happy, the local D.A. happy, and just about anyone else that you can think of. The only problem is that Robicheaux wants some serious payback from the men who murdered his friend so long ago and he doesn't care whom he has to take out in order to get it.

I've been a big fan of the "Robicheaux" novels since 1993, and I have yet to read a bad one, which is saying a lot for the author. All the books are magnificently written. Mr. Burke has a unique style of writing that's not only elegant but also poetic. The way he describes old Louisiana and New Orleans touches the heart of the reader with its beauty and sense of nostalgia. The many characters that he creates in his books are true Southerners in their politeness, hospitality, and views of the world. Mr. Burke also has a clear eye for depicting the evil and wickedness that men are prone to. Even the hero of the series, Dave Robicheaux, is filled with inner demons that often lead him to forms of extreme violence in a futile effort to squelch them. He has no problem whatsoever with crushing those who would hurt the innocent, even if it means stepping outside the law to do it. Always filled with action, deep character studies, and the drama of a morality play, the "Robicheaux" series is one of the best on the market with Pegasus Descending carrying on in the grand tradition. Highly recommended!
8 people found this helpful
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Charles J. Marr
5.0 out of 5 stars Yes...yes....yes
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2006
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My final reason for writing these reviews is to answer the questions Should I read this? Should I read it now? should I spend my hard earned money on this book? Well, above are my answers. Burke is simply great as an author in this "who done it." Robicheaux, operating again in New Iberia, confronts a mix of problems. An entanglement of murders going back in his life and up to his present thwarts him with a question about the guilty party(parties) and you will be thrilled with the chase and solution. While doing this the sense of place is beautifully rendered in lyrical descriptions evoking a long distant, intermediate, and recent past. Like many contemporary authors, Burke mourns a bygone era of small town America and poses answers to questions of when and how did America change from a place of innocence. His answer is complex - the drug trade, modern life, the Vietnam era all were part of it- but there was also an underlying violence of society that must be taken into account. In addition as his frame for storytelling, Burke returns to parents and children themes that are so often part of his writing. Have we spoiled our children with wealth? Has our pursuit of wealth spoiled us as parents? What flaws are exscused in ourselves by blaming others? In that sense this may me the most moral of Burke's novels. But don't get the idea that it is a sermon. It is a slice of life, a fiction l,oaded with truth. I have already shared it with a friend. You will want to do the same.
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Top reviews from other countries

Michael Ackland
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2023
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A very good read as usual. His style makes for very easy reading. Moving on to the next book now.
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Robert Tucker
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on July 4, 2018
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Good quality; author speaks for himself. Certainly no complaints regarding packaging or delivery
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Yen Gon Chan
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Australia on May 9, 2016
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Great
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T. R. Stedman
4.0 out of 5 stars Bayou life
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2014
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the insight into life in South Louisiana is superb and the author is highly skilled in his descriptions of that life but the storyline in this book a little convoluted and not as sharp as some of his previous books about the detective hero Dave and his pal Clete
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Steve Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars Pegasus Descending...a fascinating read from the "King Of Southern Noir" James Lee Burke
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2022
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I've been reading James Lee Burke for years now and gradually filling the gaps in my collection. A fascinating read, everything I'd expected and more!
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