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Flags on the Bayou
by James Lee Burke
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A novel set in Civil War-era Louisiana, as the South transforms and a brilliant cast of characters-enslaved and free women, plantation gentry, and battle-weary Confederate and Union soldiers-are caught in the maelstrom. In the fall of 1863, the Union Army is in control of the Mississippi River and much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The retreating Confederate army is being replaced by Red Legs, irregulars commanded by a maniacal figure, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom. When Hannah Laveau, an enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous.…
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"In the US, the most highly regarded crime writing prize is probably the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. The Edgars have been running since 1954 and are organized by the Mystery Writers of America , the professional organization for crime writers. Previous winners in the best novel category include Patricia Highsmith, John Le Carre , Attica Locke and Ruth Rendell. In 2024, the winning novel was Flags on the Bayou, a historical novel set in Louisiana during the American Civil War. It’s by James Lee Burke, who has won the award three times before. The story is told from the point of view of an eclectic cast of tormented characters against a diabolical backdrop. Slavery lies at the heart of the story. As one of the main protagonists says, “If they, meaning my fellow human beings, had not cursed themselves with the enslavement of their fellow man, they would have lived in a near-perfect society.” At the back of the book James Lee Burke writes that he considers it his best book yet. There’s a lot more to the book, but in terms of the thriller genre, it’s an ‘on the run from justice’ story."