Last Car to Elysian Fields

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Mark Hammer

For Dave Robicheaux, there is no easy passage home. New Orleans, and the memories of his life in the Big Easy, will always haunt him. To return there means visiting old ghosts and opening himself to new, yet familiar, dangers.

When Robicheaux, a police officer based in the somewhat quieter Louisiana town of New Iberia, learns that an old friend, Father Jimmie Dolan has been the victim of a particularly brutal assault, he returns to New Orleans to investigate, if only unofficially.

Meanwhile, back in New Iberia, three local teenage girls are killed in a drunk driving accident. Robicheaux traces the source of the liquor to one of New Iberia's "daiquiri windows," places that sell mixed drinks through drive-by windows. When the owner of the drive-through operation is brutally murdered, Robicheaux immediately suspects the grief-crazed father of the dead teen driver. But his assumption is challenged when the murder weapon turns up belonging to someone else. Tying together these disparate threads is a maniacal killer named Max Coll, a deeply haunted hit man sent to New Orleans to finish the job of father Dolan.

©2003 James Lee Burke (P)2003 Simon & Schuster Inc. All Rights Reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"James Lee Burke is at the top of his game." (The New York Times)
"This is an outstanding entry in an excellent series" (Publishers Weekly)

what the heck

I'm a little upset at the lack of details on Bootsie! really not cool man

Narrator got in the way

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Enjoyed the story and it made a long drive less tedious. I love Dave Robicheaux novels but the narrator has the voices all wrong.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

No.

Would you be willing to try another one of Mark Hammer’s performances?

No.

Could you see Last Car to Elysian Fields being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Sure.

Reader exacerbated weak plot but great characters

I'm sure i'd like to hang with the reader, but please....SLLLLLLLLLLLoooooooooooooooowwwww, and boring,
Loved the character transformation but the crux of the plot too disconnected.

Love James Lee Burke!

His writing is graphic and intellectual causing the reader to stretch beyond their own lexicon as well as their own understanding of things and people they have probably never experienced first hand.

Love Burke's Works

I'm a real fan of JL Burke's Robicheaux series and I was taken aback when Mark Hammer's voice instead of Will Paton's came through my ear phones. I don't know about accents, I've never been to LA, but Mr. Hammer 'snorks' while reading and it was very bothersome, distracting. I like the writer's work but not the reader. Maybe he had a cold, or sinus problem but I would love to hear Will read this, I'd enjoy it so much more.

Love this series

Have read and enjoyed all the unabridged books by this author. I wish the rest were available as unabridged. I will not buy abridged books, particularly by an author whose descriptive imagery adds so much. If they become available unabridged I will buy them all.

Southern Comfort

James Lee Burke and Mark Hammer weave a mesmorizing tale of Southern intrigue that makes the reader feel he has stepped into the culture of Louisiana. Except for Clete Purcell, the characters are multi-dimensional and interesting in their own right. The bad guys, and there are many, have some redeeming features and are not so different from the good guys.
Burke transitions you into each scene and gets you so wrapped up that you forget how disappointed you were when he ended the previous strand.
Hammer's rendering of the Louisiana accent is like a lullaby that soothes the soul and takes you out of your place in time.
This story is not so much a whodunnit as a howcouldnormalpeopleactsobad. My only questions is,"What happened to Bootsy between "Jolie Blon's Bounce" and this book?"

Another Great Robicheaux Novel

Love the story maybe one of my favorites. As always
Hammer is not my favorite narrator but he does a decent job. I just can’t get past his narration of Clete Purcells character.

Great way to spend the day

As in his other book I read the characters are each interesting as they wrestle with there personal demons and choices. The various story lines are interesting and it is a very enjoyable listen. You will be sorry it is over..

Last Car to Elysian Fields

I am a James Lee Burke / Dave Robichaux fan & have listened to most of his. Thoroughly enjoyed this novel but being a Acadiana resident, I think its time to try and locate a narator who can speak with a Cajun accent. I get tired of mis-pronouncing the names and having people in the Lafayette and New Iberia area speak like they are from New Orleans. These are two different accents and perhaps in the future, the narator should make the effort.