Handmade Glass Rainbow, Rainbow sun catcher, Glass Rainbow Bridge

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I have had visions of them that I do not try to explain to other. Sometimes I thought I heard cries and shouts and the sounds of musket fire in the mist, because the Union soldiers who marched through Acadiana were turned loose upon the civilian populace as a lesson in terror. The rape of Negro women became commonplace. Northerners have never understood the nature of the crimes that were committed in their names, no more than neocolonials can understand the enmity their government creates in theirs. Their pastoral solemnity of a civil war graveyard doesn’t come close to suggesting the reality of war or the crucible of pain in which a solider lives and dies.

Meanwhile, Dave is investigating the savage killings of several young local women. No one else seems to care at all about these victims, all of whom came from disadvantaged circumstances, but Dave is determined to pursue the cases, even though most of them lay outside of his jurisdiction. As always, Clete Purcel, who serves as Dave's alter ego, plays his usual role and blasts through the book like the proverbial bull in a china shop. There's a real chance that Clete's antics are finally going to catch up with him here, and all of these complex threads come together in a shattering climax. Resin, or epoxy resin, is a type of glue that is man-made and used for many different purposes. Resin casting is a method of plastic casting where a mold is filled with a synthetic resin which then hardens. Due to the simplicity of the product, this can be carried out with little investment and little skill. And I have finally gotten tired of the two principal characters--Dave and Clete. In book after book, they can identify the evil ones just by looking at them. This is fine once or twice, but it gets tiresome after so many books in which this happens, and it begins to affect the reader's ability to suspend disbelief. Yet he changes. In a telling scene, one of Abelard's associates slut shames his daughter. Just before the scene Burke reminds how the same man has already been beaten up on three separate occasions because he is the sort of asshole that keeps dentists in business. Robicheaux however does not resort to violence though he has beaten up a guy before for saying similar stuff. And that in essence is why Robicheaux works so well for me. His first instinct is always to do the right thing and more importantly he does not always succeed. Another bad apple Vidor Perkins, a sociopath with a very stained life becomes a problem for David as he makes threats and scares his precious daughter Alafair.In his own mind, Clete was still a cop. His mistakes at NOPD, his history of addiction and vigilantism and involvement with biker girls and junkie strippers and street skells of every stripe all seemed to disappear from his memory, as though the justice of his cause were absolution enough and his misdeeds were simply burnt offerings that should not be held against him." But in spite of the bloody bound on which our town was built, and out of which oak trees and bamboo and banks of flowers along the bayou grew, it remained for me a magical place in the predawn hours, touched only cosmetically by the Industrial Age, the drawbridge clanking erect in the fog, it’s great cogged wheels bleeding rust, a two-story quarter boat that resembled a nineteenth-century paddle wheeler being pushed down to the Gulf, the fog billowing whitely around it, the air sprinkled with the smell of Confederate Jasmine.” Needless to say, then, Dave is not at all happy about Alafair's relationship with Abelard, and he's even less excited about the fact that the Abelards are hosting Robert Weingart, an ex-con-turned-writer who's being celebrated as the next great prison writer. Dave refuses to believe that Weingart has reformed and he believes that the Abelards are dupes or worse for allowing Weingart into their home. But naturally, when Dave attempts to warn Alafair of his concerns, she revolts against him and Dave runs the risk of losing his daughter. Have you ever smelled the magnolias, tasted the gumbo, seen the Spanish moss strung like Christmas garlands in the live oaks, heard the rain play on a tin roof, felt the damp salt breeze off the Gulf of Mexico? And the fleeting visions in the corner of your eye are indeed ghosts of an antebellum past, in the land of Marie Laveau. James Lee Burke's gifts are such that you will experience all of these things right there in your own home or in the coffee shop or on the evening train, even if you have never made it to New Orleans (NuOrlans) or south to New Iberia Parish.

James Lee Burke does weave some philosophy into all his novels. Those moments of self-reflection which Dave has as he tries to determine if he is doing more good than harm. Robicheaux is the most layered protagonist in crime fiction history. With age both Burke and his protagonist has gotten more judgmental but he is often wondering whether his decisions are tinged with inherent biases and condescending attitudes. This sort of internal rumination makes him so appealing to me. He is certain about his motivations but confused about the morality of his actions. But THE GLASS RAINBOW doesn’t really focus on the investigation of these murders. Instead, a large part of the narrative is devoted to two threads: Dave’s adopted daughter Alafair’s serious relationship with Kermit Abelard, the author of historical novels and the son of a powerful robber baron; and the ongoing self-destructive behavior of his best friend and former partner, Clete Purcel. Alafair is working on a book of her own, and Kermit and his oily friend, Robert Weingart, are helping her find a publisher. Weingart is an ex-con and best-selling author. Needless to say, Dave has no use for any of these people, which leads to huge conflict with Alafair, who feels that Dave is trying to control her life. Weingard in particular is a reprehensible character, closely followed by Kermit’s father. In The Glass Rainbow Dave and Clete find themselves investigating the murder of several young girls. An ex-con Robert Weingart, who was freed from prison by the intervention of the Abelard family, is the focus of the investigation. He was released after writing a book that was compared to Soul on Ice and the state decided that he was reformed...enough. Kermit Abelard is dating Alafair, the daughter of Dave Robicheaux. He is wealthy, attractive, a published writer, and emotionally available to an impressionable young lady. Kermit just happens to prefer going to the bed sheet rodeo with Robert Weingart. Needless to say Alafair may be a modern woman, but she ain't that modern. As the investigation continues it becomes evident that the real reason these girls are turning up dead has to do with a land deal that would allow an ethanol plant to be built. Scumbags, professional cleaners, an ex-college tennis player, a rich ex-cop, a crooked prison guard, old money and new money all figure in the plot of the novel. As they weave their way through the investigation Dave and Clete find themselves on both sides of the law. As the lies unravel for all those involved the desperation of the liars and our heroes comes to one last stand where even I was wondering if this was going to be the last Dave Robicheaux novel. Adding to his troubles Dave's adopted daughter, Alafair, is home on a break from Stanford Law to put the finishing touches on her novel and she is in love with Kermit Abelard, a novelist himself, and scion of a once prominent Louisiana family. Abelard's association with bestselling ex-convict author Robert Weingart has Dave fearing for Alafair's safety. You know that Dave is right and a father knows best. Abelard and Weingart are toxic. Alafair may be all grown up now but she is still his daughter and he will always be there to protect her. Whether she likes it or not.It has been my experience that most human stories are circular rather than linear. Regardless of the path we choose, we somehow end up where we commenced - in part, I suspect, because the child who lives in us goes along for the ride.” For the last 6-7 entries, the series has been consistently good but formulaic. The Glass Rainbow however sizzles with a sense of impending doom that gives it an urgency the series has not seen in a long time. Add the best prose the genre has ever seen. And the only reason for not reading Burke as a crime fiction fan is if one finds the books too dark. But isn't it a bit like staying away from a stimulating and intelligent discussion because it is too smart for you? Rating - 5/5 The Glass Rainbow is the best James Lee Burke novel, the best Dave Robicheaux tale. The novel begins with the investigation of the deaths of seven girls and young women. There is a list of suspects: an heir to a plantation fortune turned author of historical novels; an ex-con turned author of a novel about his prison time (one of those people made famous by an affluent "sophisticated" readership living vicariously on illicit thrills); a swamp-wise dealer/pimp/entrepreneur who preys expertly on desperate people with dreams of a significant life; a nouveaux-riche millionaire and his wife with old money pretensions, under investigation by the IRS and the SEC. Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.