 Fame & Fortune: James Lee Burke
Wealth of life experiences brings author big payoff
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He's been an oil pipeline worker in Texas, a surveyor
in Colorado, a Job Corps tutor in backwoods Appalachia and a gangland
counselor in south L.A. But it was only when James Lee Burke poured
his wealth of life's experiences into a best-selling mystery series
featuring Louisiana bayou detective Dave Robicheaux that this Jack-of-all-trades
became master-of-one.
Travel came naturally to the Houston-born son of a
Texas gas-pipeline engineer, who followed briefly in his father's
footsteps after graduating from college. Inspired by a college writing
competition, Burke went to Southwestern Louisiana Institute for
two years and then transferred to the University of Missouri to
major in journalism. After receiving a bachelor's and master's degree
he taught at a variety of colleges while developing his fiction
writing.
His first three literary novels were well-received
by critics but barely noticed by readers. Burke loves to tell the
story of his fourth novel and first crime story, "The Lost
Get-Back Boogie," that may have set a record for the most rejections
by publishers (111 over nearly a decade by Burke's count) before
Louisiana State University Press took a chance on it. It went on
to earn a 1987 Pulitzer Prize nomination.
But it was his sixth book, "The Neon Rain,"
that earned Burke his devoted readership. The debut of Robicheaux,
a New Iberia, La., cop with a host of demons from alcoholism to
lost love, was an instant hit. After two decades of trying, Burke
had suddenly found his true calling as a pioneer of the literary
mystery along with Elmore Leonard, Walter Mosley, Michael Connelly
and Dennis Lehane.
In 1997, he launched a new series with "Cimarron Rose," which features former Texas Ranger turned Hill Country lawyer Billy Bob Holland. With the publication of his 15th Robicheaux novel, "Pegasus Descending," Burke continues his winning streak.
Bankrate caught up with the traveling man, who now divides his time between homes in New Iberia and Missoula, Mont., for a look back at his colorful life.
Bankrate: In what financial circumstances did you grow up?
James Lee Burke: I grew up during the Depression and my father had a job. If your father had a job in those days, you were considered fortunate. We always did OK. It was a time of great privation but no one had very much. As a consequence, we never thought of ourselves as poor. It was just a time of great scarcity and frugality and being able to make a little go a long way. The great irony is that everyone who lived through those years looks back on them with nostalgia. I think it's because everyone of my generation knows we are the last generation that remembers what people call traditional America. We're a transitional group.
Bankrate: What did your father do?
Burke: He was a natural
gas engineer, a pipeline man. He worked for the Houston Pipeline
Co., one of the biggest in the world, I understand.
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