Comments on the The Tin Roof Blowdown

This is the first James Lee Burke book I have read, so obviously the first in the Dave Robicheaux series. Although starting with the 16th book in the series, instead of the first, is not my favorite way to read a series, I am finding that it is not difficult to fit into the story line. As is typical in a series, the character has progressed and has a history, and the current book makes references to that history, but it does not take away from the new reader's experience.

However, there are references to the origin of Alafair, Robicheaux's daughter that rang a bell in my memory (given my memory, it must have been a Liberty Bell-sized gong). She says- "You see, I am Indian. I was born in a village in El Salvador. A Catholic priest tried to fly my mother and me into the United States, but we crashed off Southwest Pass. My mother drowned in the plane." [p.161] It's not the first time this fact is mentioned in the book, but this time the bell rang loud enough for me to hear it. So I checked. Sure enough, I remember a movie in which something like that happens. Turns out the movie was based on the second book in the Robicheaux series, Heaven's Prisoners. Might want to check it out, but then again, it might ruin the mental picture you have of the hero.