In James Lee Burke's hands, even a summer outing, a romantic encounter remembered through the warm haze of nostalgia, can ring with menace. When the Robicheaux brothers first swim out to a Galveston Island sandbar, in the opening scene of "Crusader's Cross," it's a picture of golden days. It's 1958 and Dave, hero of 12 previous Burke mysteries, and his half-brother Jimmie, are just out of high school, working their way toward college laying seismic equipment for oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. The two are enjoying their youth and health and the hot Texas summer on a hard-earned day off. But w...
