Crusader's Cross (2005)

Trying to stay off the sauce and out of trouble, that hard-living Cajun wreck of a detective Dave Robicheaux is back on the job in Burke's 25th novel, tracking down both a plucky Galveston hooker who disappeared in 1958 and a present-day psychopath who's been slaughtering women across southern Louisiana. To further complicate matters, Robicheaux begins a love affair with a nun. James Lee Burke's sunsets are as molten as ever, his sultry descriptions of bayou life as evocative, and Robicheaux remains one of the coolest, earthiest heroes in thrillerdom in Crusader's Cross. But this novel's raggedy, all-over-the-place plot won't win Burke any new fans.