詹姆斯•布克1936年出生于得克萨斯的休斯敦。在得克萨斯与路易斯安那州交接的海湾地区长大成人。

1958年，他在路易斯安那西南学院获得了英国文学学士学位。1960年在密苏里大学获得了英国文学硕士学位。

他先后从事过下述工作：西克莱石油公司的土地测量员、管道工、土地调查者、报纸记者、英语系教授、洛杉矶的社会工作者、路易斯安那就业服务机构的办事员及指导老师。

他与妻子皮尔相遇于大学，，有着四十六年的婚姻了，生养着四个孩子。

布克创作的小说多达二十三部。包括《纽约时报》畅销书榜的优秀作品：《Bitter Root》、《Purple Cane Road》、《Cimarron Rose》、《Jolie Blon’s Bouce》和《Dixie City Jam》。

他是少有的两度荣获埃德加•爱伦•坡最佳小说奖的作家。《西马隆河的玫瑰》（Cimarron Rose）1988年获此奖项。

他也曾荣获下列奖项：Bread Loaf、Guggenheim Fellowship、NEA grant。

他的两部小说——《Heaves’s Prisoners》、《Two for Texas》被改编成了电影。他的短篇小说陆续发表在《大西洋月刊》、《新故事》、《美国最佳短篇小说》、《南方评论》等刊物上。他的小说《The Lost Get – Back Boogie》由路易斯安那出版社9年印刷111次，并获普利策奖提名。

布克与妻子现居路易斯安那。

With Cimarron Rose, Burke launches a powerful new series in the hard-edged style for which he is known, starring a new, enigmatic hero and set in the expansive and beautiful American West.Attorney and former Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland has many secrets in his dark past. Among them is Vernon Smothers's son Lucas, a teenaged boy about whom only Vernon and Billy Bob know the truth. Lucas is really Holland's illegitimate son, and when Lucas is arrested for murder, Billy Bob knows that he has no choice but to confront the past and serve as the boy's criminal attorney. During Lucas's trial, Billy Bob realizes that he will have to bring injury upon Lucas as well as himself in order to save his son. As a result, Billy Bob creates enemies that are far more dangerous than any he faced as a Texas Ranger.To satisfy the huge demand for James Lee Burke's novels, Hyperion, in an extensive reprint program, is making his earlier works available in mass market. The Lost Get-Back Boogie was re-released in November 1997, and five more backlist books will follow in the coming months.