American author James Lee Burke was born Dec. 5, 1936, in Houston. He grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast and attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri receiving English Literature degrees.
American author James Lee Burke was born Dec. 5, 1936, in Houston. He grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast and attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri receiving English Literature degrees.
James held a variety of jobs while writing books that were rejected. He was a truck driver, newspaper reporter, social worker and land surveyor, and taught at various universities in Missouri, Louisiana and Montana before settling at Wichita State University in Kansas in 1978.
James and his wife Pearl have four children, Jim, Andree, Alafair and Pamala (who had passed away), and they have four grandchildren. They make their home on a ranch in western Montana.
James is best known for his “Dave Robicheaux” series, which has been translated into almost every language in the world. His first novel, “Half of Paradise,” was published in 1965. “Two for Texas” was published in 1982 and was made into a 1988 television movie with the same name. He is known for writing mystery and thrillers, historical fiction and crime.
This New York Times best-selling author has received many awards for his writings, including Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America, Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction and a three-time winner of the Edgar Award, to name a few.
We have 28 of his novels here at our library.
