Atkins, Ace 1970(?)-

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Atkins, Ace 1970(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1970, in AL; married. Education: Received degree from Auburn University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Oxford, MS. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, journalist. St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, FL, former correspondent; Tampa Tribune, Tampa, FL, former crime reporter.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Livingston Award for outstanding journalism, 1999, 2000; Pulitzer Prize nomination for journalism, 2000.

WRITINGS:

White Shadow (novel), G.P. Putnam's Sons (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to the anthology New Orleans Noir, Akashic Books (New York, NY), 2007.

"NICK TRAVERS" SERIES; MYSTERY NOVELS

Crossroad Blues, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Leavin' Trunk Blues, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Dark End of the Street, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Dirty South, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Former crime reporter Ace Atkins's first novel is Crossroad Blues. The story follows Nick Travers—an ex-New Orleans Saints football player, blues historian, part-time Tulane University instructor, Guitar Slim biographer, and regular harmonica player at JoJo's Blues Bar—as he wades through a sea of psychopaths while investigating the disappearance of Michael Baker, another music history professor at Tulane. Baker was hunting down unknown recordings of Robert Johnson, a legendary jazz musician who disappeared in the 1930s. "Despite the weight of two overused [mystery] genre staples (the New Orleans setting and an ex-sports star as hero)," commented a Publishers Weekly critic, Crossroad Blues is "lively" and "a pleasure" to read. The critic hoped Nick Travers would reappear in future mysteries. Likewise, Booklist reviewer Bill Ott proclaimed that "Atkins has combined several recurring [genre] themes … but he's stirred them in his own special way, producing one of the year's most promising new series." Crossroad Blues' "plotting is endlessly confusing, and the narration heavily laden with raw language and raw sex," wrote a contributor to Kirkus Reviews, who nevertheless added that "the author's energy, talent, and deep love of music" compensate for any shortcomings. Marilyn Stasio implied in her New York Times Book Review that, stylistically, Atkins would benefit from being less "fancy and more emotionally attuned," but she complimented this "frisky debut mystery." Stasio concluded that "when his old guys open up you can really hear the music everybody talks about so reverently."

Nick Travers returns in Leavin' Trunk Blues, a novel one Publishers Weekly critic called "even darker, sadder and much colder" than the first book. This time Travers goes to Chicago to help former blues singer Ruby Walker. Ruby has been imprisoned for forty years for the murder of her husband, Billy Lyons, but she still claims she is innocent. When Travers agrees to help her he finds himself pursued by a ruthless killer named Stagger Lee. "Nick suffers almost more pain than the book's short length can bear," remarked the Publishers Weekly reviewer, but the story is made enjoyable nevertheless by Atkins's strong characterizations and "contagious love for the blues."

In 2001 Atkins signed a six-figure deal to write two more "Nick Travers" novels, one of which, Dark End of the Street, was published in 2002. Here, Nick's love of tracking down information on long-forgotten blues performers leads him to investigate a 1960s soul singer, Clyde James, brother to Nick's second mother. His search uncovers a trove of other less savory doings, from murder to Mafia rackets, and takes Nick from New Orleans to Tennessee. Booklist contributor Bill Ott found this installment in the popular series "toe-tapping good fun for anyone who cares about the blues." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly similarly termed Dark End of the Street a "fast-paced, hot and heavy Southern suspense yarn that only occasionally defies credibility," while a Kirkus Reviews critic concluded: "Once again, Atkins … redeems shaky plotting by a colorful cast, especially big-hearted, picaresque Nick."

Atkins concludes the "Nick Travers" series with Dirty South, which finds Nick coming to the aid of a former football teammate and successful record producer who is threatened by death if he does not release a new young rap star to a different record label. This case takes Nick into the less picturesque sides of New Orleans and the world of hip-hop as he searches for the singer. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly found this a "richly atmospheric yet action-starved crime drama." However, reviewing the same novel in Library Journal, Thomas L. Kilpatrick concluded that "action fans will applaud the novel's breathtaking climax." A Kirkus Reviews critic concluded: "As usual … Atkins's sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, always colorful characters are better than his overstuffed plot."

With the 2006 novel, White Shadow, Atkins leaves blues-loving Nick behind to create an "atmospheric tale of turf war between Sicilian and Cuban gangsters in Tampa's Latin Quarter," according to Booklist reviewer Ott. Atkins used a series of articles he wrote as a journalist about the 1955 murder of a mob boss as an inspiration for this novel. Ott went on to comment that with White Shadow, Atkins places "Tampa on the crime-fiction map." Thomas Kilpatrick, writing in Library Journal, also had praise for the novel, calling it "an intriguing expose of a crime-ridden city in the not-too-distant past," and for a Kirkus Reviews critic the work was a "big-time crime novel crammed with violence, sex and some pretty good writing, [which] makes it hard to put down."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 1998, Bill Ott, review of Crossroad Blues, p. 1972; August 1, 2002, Bill Ott, review of Dark End of the Street, p. 1928; February 1, 2004, Keir Graff, review of Dirty South, p. 952; May 1, 2006, Bill Ott, review of White Shadow, p. 16.

Entertainment Weekly, December 11, 1998, review of Crossroad Blues.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1998, review of Crossroad Blues, p. 1332; August 15, 2002, review of Dark End of the Street, p. 1173; December 1, 2003, review of Dirty South, p. 1382; March 15, 2006, review of White Shadow, p. 247.

Library Journal, October 1, 1998, review of Crossroad Blues, p. 139; January 1, 2004, Thomas Kilpatrick, review of Dirty South, p. 166; May 15, 2006, Thomas Kilpatrick, review of White Shadow, p. 95.

New York Times Book Review, November 8, 1998, Marilyn Stasio, review of Crossroad Blues, p. 32; March 28, 2004, Marilyn Stasio, review of Dirty South.

Publishers Weekly, August 31, 1998, review of Crossroad Blues, p. 51; May 29, 2000, review of Leavin' Trunk Blues, p. 54; August 26, 2002, review of Dark End of the Street, p. 39; December 8, 2003, review of Dirty South, p. 43.