James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke is a celebrated American author known for his richly atmospheric mystery novels, particularly the Dave Robicheaux series. His work has earned him widespread acclaim, including two Edgar Awards for Best Novel for Black Cherry Blues in 1990 and Cimarron Rose in 1998.

Burke was born in Houston, Texas, and raised along the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast, a region that deeply influences the settings and tone of his stories. He studied at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette before earning both his BA and MA from the University of Missouri. His path to becoming a full-time writer was shaped by a wide range of experiences, including working in the oil industry, journalism, and social work.

He also contributed to the academic world, serving as Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He took on the role after his close friend, posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and was later succeeded by renowned author Ernest Gaines. In the 1980s, Burke taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University, just before moving to Montana.

Today, Burke lives with his wife, Pearl, and they divide their time between Lolo, Montana and New Iberia, Louisiana. His deep connection to both places often finds its way into the fabric of his novels. Writing runs in the family; his daughter, Alafair Burke, is also an accomplished mystery novelist.

Among the books that have had a profound impact on him, Burke cites The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, a 1929 novel that mirrors his own literary interest in complex family dynamics and Southern landscapes.