New Iberia & Baltimore

I do like books that come in series. One great series by James Lee Burke is the Dave Robicheaux novels. The latest out in paperback i "Pegasus Descending". Many of the old friends are there including Tripod the three-legged racoon. The violence and carnage are there also, as usual, but I guess it wouldn't be D.R. if it weren't so. The picture to the left is Bayou Teche, just outside of New Iberia, Louisiana. Burke writes well and in this novel there are many impressive descriptions of the people who inhabitat that area of the world. Dave is getting older and living (or cleaning up) in the past. Even the previous book was linked to the past. I guess I may be due to start at the beginning and read through the whole series again soon.

The other series is by Laura Lippman and features Tess Monaghan. We are at book number nine - "No Good Deeds" (yes, go unpunished). Boyfriend Crow is rather prominent in this one, I miss some of the other characters like Aunt Kathy who has been central in other books. More of Tess' history emerges in this book. The next Lippman book out will be her third stand-alone. The two first were well worth reading, but not like slipping into an old friendship - which is what writing series is all about.