BOOK REVIEW: "Creole Belle" by James Lee Burke

"Creole Belle," is Dave Robicheaux and his side-kick Clete Purcell at their brave best.

It's also James Lee Burke doing what James Lee Burke does best as he takes you on a Louisiana adventure like no one else can.  

Burke's descriptive narrative in "Creole Belle" plops the reader right smack down in the middle of the Louisiana Coast.  

His mission is to find Tee Jolie, a barroom singer who has mysteriously disappeared and whose cryptic phone messages to Robicheaux leave Dave's family thinking that he has finally lost it.  This time for good.

What develops is a story of secrets, sex, lies and videotape.   A trip into Louisiana's history that will find you both intrigued and appalled.

It took me longer than it should have to read this book because I found myself "living an adventure" that I wanted to escape and yet didn't want to end.

As I thought out loud, "this couldn't be happening, could it?" I remembered, it was, after all, Dave Robicheaux.

Another great read.

"Languishing in a recovery unit on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Dave Robicheaux is fighting an enemy more insidious than the one who put a bullet in his back a month earlier in a shootout on Bayou Teche. The morphine meant to dull his pain is steadily gnawing away at his resolve, playing tricks on his mind, and luring him back into the addict mentality that once threatened to destroy his life and family."

www.jamesleeburke.com

Holiday Bonuses – Will They or Won’t They?

 

 

Well, it’s not 2008 anymore.  And while there are still many people out of work, the market is a lot better than it was four years ago this time.

That said, how many firms are giving holiday bonuses this year?  Most of us have long since stopped anticipating how we’re going to spend our holiday bonus, because most of us haven’t seen one in a few years.

However, this year, while “listening carefully” to colleagues chatter about what people at various firms are getting, I’m starting to think that maybe the Grinch did not steal Christmas this year.

You can’t help but look around and compare the work you’ve done all year to the work of others.  Are holiday bonuses typically based on your contributions for the year (the people who always offer to help or stay late or come in early) or simply across the board and standard for all.

I’m not encouraging anyone to get their hopes up, but with the election behind us, it might be a good time to run down and get a cup of Starbucks for your boss.

It can’t hurt and you might get something this year besides a fruitcake.

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The Moment That You Jolts You Back to Reality

We're always so hurried and harried in law firms.  Especially in litigation.

But once in a while that moment happens that makes you put everything in perspective.

If I'm rambling, it's because I've just experienced such a moment.

I sent a panicked email to my favorite legal service's owner because I have a filing on Monday.  I've trusted him with my work for years, and while I do use other vendors, from time to time, Mike has never failed me and has saved my you know what on more than one occassion.

When I recieved his "out of office," message, I picked up the phone and frantically dialed the company's number.  I blurted out how I had a filing next week and I needed to have this and that happen only to find out that Mike isn't coming back.

Unfortunately, he passed away yesterday. 

And, suddenly what seemed so important actually isn't important at all.

Rest in Peace, Mike.  I'll say a special prayer for you and for your colleagues.

They say the good die young.