Customer Reviews

Crossroad Blues: A Nick Travers Mystery

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading the galleys, my first thought was, what a talented young writer. Ace Atkins' clever use of dialect, humor, and detail does more than unravel a mystery. He creates characters who are worth reading. Nick Travers is smart enough to make you think,interesting enough to make you want more, and funny enough that you'd want to have a beer with him. Atkins also manages weave together the past and present worlds of Blues, the Delta and New Orleans into a story that really makes you wonder about the world of Robert Johnson and what really happened. And, Jesse is the hippest, funkiest villan I've read in years! Crossroad Blues is well worth reading.

"Crossroad Blues" is a fascinating & engaging read because it contains many elements that keeps the reader interested - short chapters, punchy dialogue, intriguing character development & rich descriptions of the Mississippi Delta. The author seamlessly weaves the musical essence of the 1930s blues scene with a complete immersion into present day New Orleans culture. We are treated to a glimpse of life behind the facade erected for tourist consumption, & see gritty realism. We blues fans applaud this mystery series!

Some people say there are only two types of stories: A new kid comes to town and someone goes on a trip. Crossroad Blues belongs in the later class because Nick Travers travels around New Orleans and the delta in search for a missing colleague. It's not as interesting as the chase for an albino whale. But then again what is? Along the way, we readers learn lots about he history of the Blues and the mysterious disappearance of one of the blues greats, Robert Johnson. Hard core to the core, situated in a typical decaying and corrupt urban setting, Crossroad Blues takes us to the other side of the railroad tracks where men and women are rough, nihilistic, and very very tough. The author,like most hard boil authors, does at every opportunity seem to want to rub our noses in the you know what. In Hard Boiled the main character does (predictably) have relationship problems. Nick is no exception. But in his case the relationship appears stylized, artificial, and tacked on. Unfortunately, the book is not balanced in other respects. After it hit us over the head a number of times, it lets us down at the end. And most annoying are the several plot defects that surface, especially the coincidental meetings of important characters at just the right times. Poor editing is another problem: rough edges should have been caught and repaired. All in all, though, for a first novel, it's quite entertaining. In fact, not bad. Ace Atkins, shows promise, and will probably, as he matures become one of our best hard boilers.

What would happen if there were nine unknown original recordings of Robert Johnson's work. Would there be intrique, murder, back-stabbing and plans by glitzy glossy labels to market this work. Well we know stuff would happen and probably some unsavory stuff to help someone make money. This is Ace Atkins' premise. His hero, Nick Travers follows the trail to the Delta to Greenwood where it all began or ended depending on your perspective.

Atkins includes all the elements of blues - the glitzy blues club, The Real Thang in Jojo's, Elvis, a Susan Tedeschi type in Virginia Dare who dares immerse herself in the Delta to develop the real blues feel. Travers' trips to the Delta region does have the blues feel, that kind of eerie, spooky Crossroads mood.

All in all a good fast read. It's not perfect. Mystery books aren't classic literature and blues ain't a Shakespeare sonnet. Both good blues and a good mystery should be accessible and entertaining. Crossroad Blues is.

I normally don't read "amateur" mysteries (where the investigator is some regular schlub who has no business investigating anything) but this really stuck with me, mainly because of the idea of an ex-pro football player living in New Orleans and playing the blues all day long. It also provided easy-to-digest blues history in addition to the humor (one of the bad guys is a psychotic 19-year-old Elvis wannabe), but the contempt Nick shows for the Blues Shack, a corporate blues nightclub chain, struck me as a thinly-veiled diatribe against the House of Blues, right down to the Shack having Sunday gospel breakfasts. Even so, it's a great start to what should be a spectacular series.

The blues frame and color the writing rhythm Atkins falls into so beautifully in Crossroads, words sliding off the page like a drop of condensation on the side of a bottle of Dixie, or a long, low note from a solitary harp. It's a great, well-researched story populated with real characters who are as easy to read about as they are to envy. The thrills and lusts and hangovers and disappointments in Atkins' world will be so real to you that finishing the book will seem like a funeral. I cannot wait for the rebirth promised by the next one. Do yourself a favor and buy this book.

Do you like the Blues? Do you like Robert Johnson? Do you like a good mystery novel? Than pickup a copy of "CROSSROAD BLUES (A NICK TRAVERS MYSTERY)" by Ace Atkins. Atkins is a twenty-seven-year-old staff writer for the Tampa Tribune and this is his first novel.

The story takes place in New Orleans and introduces Nick Tarvers; an ex-New Orleans Saint turned blues historian. Tarvers is asked to track down another professor who has disappeared in the Delta while following a rumor of nine unknown Robert Johnson songs.

Along the way, Tarvers meets some really strange characters, which includes a nineteen-year-old hitman who believes he is the second coming of Elvis. Atkins combines the supposed details of Robert Johnson death, by flashback, with the search of the missing professor and this concludes with finding the answer to the greatest mystery in all of blues history.

I stumbled across this in the public library "new mystery" section, read it, loved it, and promptly ordered a copy for myself to keep. It will go on the shelf with my blues history books and my hundreds of blues albums. It's a fun read, well seasoned with blues lore. If you play a little slide, blow a little harp, love those Delta blues, or have ever "searched for Robert Johnson", you'll want to check this out. Can't wait for the next one (or for Nick's bio of Guitar Slim"!).

Dr. Randy Sexton is head of the Jazz and Blues Archives at Tulane University in New Orleans. One of his associates, Michael Baker, a tenured professor in music history, went to the Mississippi Delta to research Robert Johnson, a blues musician who many believe was murdered in 1938. Michael went missing and Dr. Sexton is worried because the Mississippi police aren't, so he sends Nick Travers, who teaches the history of blues at Tulane, to find him. Thus begins Nick's adventurous career as a white mole immersed in black music that, so far, has spawned four Ace Atkins novels.

CROSSROAD BLUES maintains a fast-paced mystery plot while giving rich insights into the jukes of the Mississippi Delta, the blues and the colorful characters who created this music. Atkins writing is a bit rough in CROSSROAD BLUES, which is littered with whacky similes that I found irritating at first, although eventually wry, and some of his sentence fragments are mysteries in themselves. Nevertheless, I recommend the Nick Travers series for its unique approach to the mystery thriller genre.

I admit I am a blues lover but, even if I wasn't I would still enjoy this book. Ace Atkins is a great writer who brings his characters to life. His hero is Nick Travers, former NFL player, blues professor and sometimes harmonica player. He is trying to find a missing fellow professor who is searching for Robert Johnson and disappears. Nick gets caught up in the Johnson mystery as well as the mystery of the missing professor. The killer cast includes an Elvis wannabe who prays to Elvis. This book is fast paced, funny and a bit haunting.