詹姆斯•李•伯克一九三六年出生于得克萨斯州的休斯敦，一九六○年毕业于密苏里大学研究院，获文学硕士学位。伯克的表兄，安德烈•杜布斯是美国二十世纪最著名的短篇小说家之一。为了同表兄一较高下，詹姆斯•李•伯克在十九岁发表了第一部短篇小说。

一九六○年，伯克完成了他的第一部长篇小说《半面天堂》。《纽约时报》书评版为伯克的处女作发表了头条评论，评论家将其与纪德、福克纳、海明威、萨特以及哈代等人相比较。一举成名后，伯克的新作屡遭拒绝，《失而复得的布基》出版前被出版社拒绝了一百一十一次。此书后来为他赢得了普利策奖提名。在等待出版的九年中，伯克饱受酗酒带来的精神和健康问题的折磨。为了养家糊口，他做过石油公司工程师、记者、社工、大学英语教授。最后，詹姆斯•李•伯克转而创作侦探小说，推出了“戴夫•罗比乔克斯系列”，该系列作品占据了各大图书销售排行榜的榜首，售出多部电影改编版权。

詹姆斯•李•伯克曾两次获得爱伦•坡最佳小说奖，这一成就在该奖项的历史上极为罕见。伯克的作品如同一部美国南部编年史，记录了被种族主义和贫富差距折磨得遍体鳞伤的南方社会。他关注现代工业对传统和自然的影响，崇尚人道主义和英雄主义，擅长心理描写，这些特点为他在评论界赢得了“犯罪小说中的福克纳”的美名。作为二十世纪最重要的侦探小说家之一，詹姆斯•李•伯克影响了一代作家，其中包括约翰•康奈利、彼得•梅尔等。在他看来，所有伟大的作家对于自己的作品都有相似的看法，即：其中的神圣之处并非来自作家本人，因而他们都怀有谦卑之心。他将自己的才华视为天赐的礼物，而写作仅仅是“为答谢这份礼物而做的回报”。

二○○九年，美国侦探小说作家协会授予詹姆斯•李•伯克大师头衔。伯克目前住在蒙大拿的米苏拉和路易斯安那的新伊比利亚，他和来自中国的妻子结婚五十七年，育有四个子女。

Amazon.com In this winner of the 1990 Edgar Award for best mystery novel， Dave Robicheaux， a former New Orleans policeman， is pursued by a psychopath and flees his home on the Bayou Teche， in the heart of Louisiana， to find a new life in Montana. After settling near the Blackfoot River Canyon， Robicheaux finds himself smack dab in the middle of an illegal Mafia takeover of Indian lands. As he struggles to expose the truth， he must face some hard facts about himself， especially after the appearance of an old Cajun friend， Dixie Lee Pughe. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition. From Publishers Weekly Burke pits a land-hungry oil company against a Blackfeet Indian reservation in a stunning novel that takes detective fiction into new imaginative realms. His Cajun sleuth， Dave Robicheaux， an ex-New Orleans cop featured in two previous novels， attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings， has recurrent nightmares about his murdered wife， and cares for an adopted El Salvadoran refugee girl. When two American Indian activists disappear， Robicheaux's dogged investigation not only sets him on a collision course with Mafia thugs and oil interests， but also leads him into a romance with Darlene American Horse， his ex-partner's girlfriend. All the main characters in this darkly beautiful， lyric saga carry heavy emotional baggage， and Robicheaux's sleuthing is a simultaneous exorcism of demons of grief， loss， fear， rage， vengeance. Burke's fictional terrain--stretching from the Louisiana bayous to Montana's red cliffs and pine-dotted hills--is uniquely his own， yet also a microcosm of a multi-ethnic America. He writes from the heart and the gut. 35，000 first printing; major ad/promo. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews