I've posted a new module to drupal.org for integrating with Solr, the REST-based front-end to Lucene.
The idea is that you run a Solr instance (in Tomcat, say) for each of your node types, and call the Solr module from your Drupal module that handles each custom node type. This will post to the index whenever a node is created or changed, search the index and return an array of search results as normal.
It can run either alongside the core search.module or with search.module disabled.
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I hate Solr.
OK, I don't hate Solr, I just hate the way they say it's a REST application and yet every single operation is peformed via POST. I watched the presentation during ApacheconEU '06, and the pride was unmistakable. That was just depressing. I suppose if I really cared I'd patch it :)
I wouldn't say that's the case at all: you POST to manipulate data (add documents, commit changes, etc) and GET search results. Not REST?