Heaven's Prisoners

by James Lee Burke

Part of Dave Robicheaux, book 2

First published 1990

Dave Robicheaux has quit the New Orleans police force and stopped drinking. He lives quietly in Louisiana's bayou country with his wife, hoping his detective days are over. Then a plane crashes in the Gulf of Mexico. Robicheaux pulls a young girl from the wreckage, but saving her drags him back into the criminal underworld he tried to escape. The crash connects to Bubba Rocque, a vicious gangster Robicheaux has known since they were boys. Rocque's ambitious Cajun wife wants power. A reckless federal agent stirs up trouble. In the backwaters where violence settles disputes faster than law, Robicheaux must protect the girl and his family. The case pulls him deeper into a web of murder and corruption that threatens everyone he cares about.

Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, action

Vibes: atmospheric, dark, fast-paced, suspenseful

Tropes: amateur-sleuth, redemption, second-chance

Setting: Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana

Period: Contemporary

304 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.

Content warnings: violence

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