Rich evocative prose embedded in an interesting story with a nasty villain. All of Burke's stories have a cast of colorful characters. Most of his tales are dark. In this one, though, Robicheaux is teetering at the edge of grim despair. If you have not read Burke before, start with his first book because each of the characters change over time.

Legion Guidry is the most evil bad guy ever to grace a crime novel.

Story outline - A young white woman is found raped and shot in the Bayou country of Louisiana. Officer Dave Robicheaux is assigned to investigate the murder. His quest to find the killer brings him into conflict with Perry LaSalle, scion of a wealthy plantation family, and Legion Guidry, a sinister, brutal old man who worked as the LaSalles' overseer. Along the way he encounters lots of strange and unsavoury characters, and has to face his own inner demons. I enjoyed this book. The setting is very evocative of the Deep South. You can almost feel the humidity, smell the dank water, taste the Cajun food, hear the twang in the voices. At heart, the book is an exploration of the nature of Evil, which I found to be very interesting. The story is character-driven - this is not a forensic whodunnit. One criticism - too many subplots and minor characters, which distracts the reader from the main story.