Dark End of the Street (Nick Travers) - Softcover

Atkins, Ace

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060004614 ISBN 13: 9780060004613

Publisher: HarperTorch, 2004

Synopsis

Former pro football player-turned-college professor Nick Travers came of age in a smoky New Orleans bar -- and he owes a monumental debt to its owners, Jo Jo and Loretta, who took him under their wings. Now Loretta wants Nick to locate her missing brother, the legendary singer Clyde James, who vanished in the sixties after his wife and a band member were murdered. The Dixie Mafia, a blonde bombshell grifter, and an Elvis-worshipping hitman are suddenly interested in the soul man as well, and Nick can't help wondering why. The answer lies somewhere in Memphis and the Mississippi Delta, where casino money, dirty politics, and old secrets bubble to the surface of the New South.

About this title

Review:

Jazz historian and wannabe PI Nick Travers comes to the aid of a young woman in trouble and gets in a lot more as a result in this lively caper involving the Dixie Mafia, a decades-old murder, political skullduggery, and a hit man who thinks he's Elvis's younger brother. A strong narrative and excellent sense of place pervades the newest outing in this good--and getting better--series, but what matters almost as much is the music both the author and his hero love, which reveals itself in the nicely cadenced prose and a plot featuring the old Delta blues men Atkins admiringly portrays. It all makes for an enjoyable evening of reading that would have been even better if they'd shipped a CD of the music Nick and his creator like best along with it. --Jane Adams

About the Author:

Ace Atkins, an Alabama native, earned nominations for the Pulitzer Prize and the Livingston Award for his work covering crime at the Tampa Tribune. He now lives on a century-old farm outside Oxford, Mississippi, with his faithful mutts Elvis and Polk Salad Annie. And yes, Ace is his real name.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperTorch
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0060004614
• ISBN 13: 9780060004613
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 416