This was a fun introduction to the gangsters of the Depression. I believe most of the dates & actual facts were true, but I'm not an expert & there was a lot of fictional filler, but it rang true. Certainly the characters were memorable & there were a lot of absurdities on both sides of the law...
Robert Johnson was a legendary blues figure who died under mysterious circumstances when he was 27. Music historians have always tried to figure out what happened. It appears that one of the music professors at Tulane University, Michael Baker, was chasing down a new lead in the Mississippi Delta...
A gritty and atmospheric thriller by a talented young writer.Tulane professor and problem solver Nick Travers is minding his own business when a friend from his college football days asks a favour. Teddy Paris is a record producer and his biggest rap star, a kid from the projects named Alias, nee...
The plan was simple. All Nick Travers had to do was drive up Highway 61 from New Orleans to Memphis and track down the lost brother of one of his best friends. But as Travers knows, these simple jobs seldom turn out smoothly.
White Shadow is quite something.It’s a novel that fictionalises events from the 1950s in Cuba and Florida, where old mobster Charlie Wall has his throat opened, which in turns opens a can of enormous worms.There’s an introduction that is a little daunting, given the number of names that fly out i...
Book Two in the Nick Travers series by Ace Atkins - 3.5 stars. It is the week before Christmas, and Nick is in Chicago, interviewing Ms. Walker and any of her friends and associates he can find in an effort to solve the 1959 murder of famous blues record produce, Billy Lyons. Nick's biggest pro...
From "one of crime fiction's most interesting and passionate voices" (Laura Lippman) comes a new "noir crime classic" (Mystery Ink) about one of the most notorious towns in American history. Reviewing White Shadow, the Associated Press wrote, "It is as gritty as James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential....
Parker's Slow Burn 19 After visiting the boys in Arson, I cracked my office windows that afternoon to the pleasant sound and smell of rain falling, and began to check messages. According to my service, I had eight calls from Cedar Junction, or as it’s more traditionally known, MCI Walpole. ...
Lillie said. “No way,” Ophelia Bundren said. Lillie had called Ophelia, the county coroner, right after the Burn Unit in Memphis. The helicopter blades on the medevac started to spin, kicking up dirt, grit, and plastic bottles from the bridge where it had landed moments ag...
Quinn pulled opposite him, headed toward Jericho, and Wesley let down his window, Styrofoam spit cup in hand, and said, “You sure like waking me up at night. Is this going to become something regular?”“Anna Lee’s worried.”“You think maybe she just wanted a reason to call?” Wesley said. “I’d reall...
Johnny Stagg said, nodding down to the body of Bones Magee on a cool, stainless-steel slab. “That’s the son of a bitch who took me by gunpoint and would’ve killed me if I hadn’t escaped.”“How’d that happen, Johnny?” Quinn said, looking to Ophelia Bundren. Ophelia looked up over the doctor’s mask,...
Quinn asked.“Last night in the jail common,” Lillie said. “Mary Alice logged it, and I played it right before you got in. By the way, did you know you were late?”“A whole fifteen minutes.”“You’re not gonna get fat and lazy on me, are you?”“What do we do?”“This will add pressure to Mara,” Lillie s...
It was the second Monday since the Arbuckle party and the third day with Judge Lazarus and police court, and Frank Dominguez said he wouldn’t bet heads or tails which way the judge was leaning. The fog had burned off in the early-morning heat and Sam got a nice breath going, trying to pace out hi...
He’d heard Costa Rica was nice, with the tropical drinks, monkeys, and such. A gringo could get lost down there in the jungle. Or he could stick it out, see what the law would do, while he talked more sense to Kyle. Kyle was having a case of the nerves, but he’d never give up Mickey. Kyle was the...
Parker's Wonderland 48HENRY AND I MET Rachel Weinberg and Blanchard the next day in Revere. Lou Coffone and his geriatric crew had chosen a one-story cracker box off 1A called the 3 Yolks. A place that proudly advertised eggs at both breakfast and lunch. Rachel was dressed in an ornate white blou...
Ain’t no needa go no further, brother. Ain’t no needa go no further, man. Tole you packin’ .45 You had better quit that jive. —LITTLE WALTER (B. LOUISIANA, 1930) I ride DL into the CL, gun right in my grip. I slip a clip in every rip, cause hatas likely to trip. —LIL WAYNE (B. LOUISIANA, 198...
Sometime last night, I’d grabbed a stiff bedspread and pillow before the girl fell asleep and was slowly waking up sore as hell. I usually tried not to think about how many body parts I’d broken, sprained, or dislocated, but mornings like this made me aware. The girl was still curled up in bed, a...
Caddy said early the next morning. “I could’ve gotten Boom when he gets off at the County Barn, but it’ll be nice to get this all distributed before then. It’s supposed to get down to five degrees tonight.” “Remind me why we live here again?” Diane Tull said, driving her o...