Lay Down My Sword and Shield

From the best-selling author of Sunset Limited, now available in mass market: a classic tale of a man haunted by memories of the Korean War, the ancestors he was named after, and the man he used to be. Hack Holland's a hard drinker, a lawyer, and a wealthy progressive Democrat. He's also a disillusioned man, running a half-hearted campaign for a Texas congressional seat. But when his efforts to help an old war buddy culminate in his unwitting involvement in a civil rights conflict, Hack finds himself rebuilding his life.

James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed.
A gorgeous prose stylist.
Richly deserves to be described now as one of the finest crime writers America has ever produced.
There are not many crime writers about whom one might invoke the name of Zola for comparison, but Burke is very much in that territory. His stamping ground is the Gulf coast, and one of the great strengths of his work has always been the atmospheric background of New Orleans and the bayous. His big, baggy novels are always about much more than the mechanics of the detective plot; his real subject, like the French master, is the human condition, seen in every situation of society.
The king of Southern noir.
His lyrical prose, his deep understanding of what makes people behave as they do, and his control of plot and pace are masterly.
One of the finest American writers.
When it comes to literate, pungently characterised American crime writing, James Lee Burke has few peers.