THE HADACOL BOOGIE

New Iberia Detective Dave Robicheaux, who’s been kept mostly on the sidelines for the past five years, makes a welcome return in a starring role in this turn-of-the-20th-century tussle.

Dave arises from sleep to see a bunch of kids set off a bottle rocket into his backyard. The rocket lights a fire he promptly puts out, but the kids, who mean no harm, turn out to be witnesses who saw a tall stranger in a black raincoat drag a big plastic bag into his yard. The bag turns out to contain the remains of a young woman who’s been stripped, drugged, and murdered. Who killed her, who dumped her in Dave’s yard, and who is she? Dave and his new partner, Det. Valerie Benoit, hunker down to answer all three of these questions. The victim turns out to be Clemmy Benoit, an obvious relative about whom Val has little to say and a friend of Dave’s adopted daughter, Alafair, a novelist who’s come for an extended visit. The suspects include Lloyd D’Anjou, a redneck colleague who’s bent on harassing Val; Jerry Carlucci, the skeevy owner of a saloon, a café, and a brothel; and Sidney Ludlow, a mobster seeking to open a casino on land he means to acquire one way or another. Since this is New Iberia, they’re all guilty of something. So are Dave and his old pal Clete Purcel, a private detective who’s fallen off the wagon; both of them periodically surrender to their righteous rage. When Alafair is kidnapped, the sense of danger is intensified for fans who remember that her father has already outlived three wives.

The hero’s goal—“I’ve got to find a way of seeing things the way they really are”—has rarely been more resonant.