Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 19 J AMES LEE BURKE, a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, published his first novel, Half of Paradise, fifty-seven years ago, and has written 40 more, with another due this year. He is the author of the extremely popular series of novels telling the sto- ry of troubled Dave Robicheaux, sometimes a cop, sometimes a detective, sometimes a sheriff's deputy, and sometimes just a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time as he fights mobsters, mur- derers, grave injustices, and his own demons. Burke also wrote the Holland series, which covers a century or two of American history spanning from Texas to Montana, as seen through the eyes of the Holland family. Burke has lived in Missoula for decades now, and both Robicheaux and the Hollands have found them- selves in the Treasure State. His most recent novel, Another Kind of Eden, tells a searing story of vi- olence and mysticism among the changing times of the 1960s. Mr. Burke, who we admire very much around here if you can't tell, has won two Edgar awards for Best Mystery Novel, and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2009. His next novel, Every Cloak Rolled In Blood, is another Holland Family novel and arrives on store shelves May 17 of this year. DISTINCTLY MONTANA: FIRST, MR. BURKE, LET ME SAY I'M A BIG FAN. YOU'VE WRITTEN SOME VERY POWERFUL AND THRILLING BOOKS, AND I THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR CONTINUING TO ENTERTAIN US, DISTURB US, AND MAKE US THINK. JAMES LEE BURKE: Oh, thank you, thank you. It's an honor. THERE'S A LOT OF REGIONAL SPECIFICITY TO THE MONTANA-SET ROBICHEAUX NOVELS. DAVE TAKES HIS DAUGHTER, ALAFAIR, TO THE NOW SADLY CLOSED RED SKIES OVER MONTANA, ATTENDS A FILM AT THE ROXY, AND GOES TO THE LEGENDARY HEIDELHAUS. WHAT MADE YOU DEPICT MISSOULA SO ACCURATELY? I've lived here many years on and off since 1966. YOU TAUGHT AT U OF M, RIGHT? Just three years. 66 - 69. ROBICHAUX SPENDS MOST OF HIS TIME IN HIS HOME STATE OF LOUISIANA, BUT TWO OF THE NOVELS IN THAT SERIES, AS WELL AS TWO IN THE BOB HOLLAND SERIES, TAKE PLACE IN MONTANA. HOW IS MONTANA LIKE LOUISIANA AS A SETTING FOR CRIME FICTION? Yes, New Iberia is my family home. We've lived on Bayou Teche since 1836. They're very similar. The issue is minerals. And natural resources. The bad guys want to get into the wilder- ness areas. It's that simple. They want to repeal the endangered species act. That's the issue. WHAT COMPELS YOU TO BRING YOUR CREATIONS TO OUR STATE? John Steinbeck said it all. Mon- tana is not a state; it's a love affair. WHILE THERE HAVE FREQUENTLY BEEN ELEMENTS OF MYSTICISM IN YOUR NOVELS (NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS THE GHOST IN IN THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD), THE LATEST ROBI- CHEAUX THRILLER, A PRIVATE CATHEDRAL, TAKES A BOLD TURN TOWARDS HORROR AND SCIENCE FICTION. ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN ALSO INVOLVES THE PARANORMAL. WHY ARE YOU EMBRACING THE UNEXPLAINED IN YOUR RECENT WORKS? That's a good question. I don't know if I can answer it. I mean to explore the history or the origins of human cruelty. That's it. Where does it come from? Actually, it's a return to the myths of early man. It's really nothing new. YOU ARE VERY MUCH ASSOCIATED WITH THE WESTERN CRIME GENRE IN WHICH C.J. BOX, CRAIG JOHNSON, AND GWEN FLORIO WRITE. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE ONGOING APPEAL OF THAT GENRE? Well, the Western story actually had its origins in two men only. And those men are John Neihart [author of Black Elk Speaks], and the other, of course, is our friend A. B. Guth- rie, my old friend Bud Guthrie. There would be no American West were it not for those two men. But what people call the Western is actually the odyssey of man. John Neihart told me this. He said, "Jim, man follows the sun. He always walks Westward." I was his student. Black Elk Speaks is one of the greatest works ever written about the American Indian and the frontier. It's a tragedy. YOUR BOOKS HAVE MANY REFERENCES TO THE GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE, FROM HEN- RY JAMES AND JIM HARRISON IN SWAN PEAK TO MENTIONS OF FAULKNER THROUGHOUT YOUR OEUVRE, AND IT'S HARD TO THINK OF A MORE LITERATE (AND LITERARY) DETECTIVE interview by JOSEPH SHELTON

• Cover