I also believe my home state is cursed by ignorance and poverty and racism, much of it deliberately inculcated to control a vulnerable electorate. And I believe many of the politicians in Louisiana are among the most stomach-churning examples of white trash and venality I have ever known. To me, the fact that large numbers of people find them humorously picaresque is mind numbing, on a level with telling fond tales of one's rapist.

He has won an Edgar Award for Black Cherry Blues (1990) and Cimarron Rose (1998). The MWA awarded its Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel of the year in 1990 for Black Cherry Blues. Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco on November 2 2002 at a ceremony held at the inaugural Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge LA.

The Robicheaux character has been portrayed twice on screen first by Alec Baldwin (Heaven's Prisoners) and then Tommy Lee Jones (In the Electric Mist). He has won an Edgar Award for Black Cherry Blues (1990) and Cimarron Rose (1998). Burke has also written seven miscellaneous crime novels two short story anthologies four books starring protagonist Texas attorney Billy Bob Holland and three books starring Billy Bob's cousin Texas James Lee Burkeriff Hackberry Holland.