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T H U R S D A Y

The Italian mob and Southern gentry. Spanish moss along the bayou and flashbacks of Vietnam. Poor black sharecroppers and mystical grifters on the run from Central American military heavies. In James Lee Burke‘s latest, Burning Angel, Creole detective Dave Robicheaux once again confronts the dichotomy that is New Orleans and its outlying Iberia Parish. Burke’s visceral writing style allows the reader to almost taste the beignets, smell the bayou after a rain shower, and feel the blood splatter from a broken nose. Burke reads from his novel Wednesday at 6 p.m. at MysteryBooks, 1715 Connecticut Ave. NW. FREE. (202) 483-1600; and at 7 p.m. tonight at Olsson’s, 1200 F St. NW. FREE. (202) 347-3686. (Maria Ware)