Cimarron Rose

This invigoratingly rich crime novel diverges from James Lee Burke's popular Dave Robicheaux series for a new — though equally brooding — hero. In Cimarron Rose, Billy Bob Holland, a Texas ranger-turned-defense lawyer, represents his illegitimate teenage son, who's accused of beating his girlfriend to death. As a gang of spoiled preppy kids, an L.A. serial killer, and a crooked Mexican narc enter the plot's wide-ranging and powerful orbit, Burke flexes a graceful artistry, with unabashedly lyrical prose and violence choreographed like a menacing ballet. A-