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Title: Crossroad Blues: A Nick Travers Mystery by Ace Atkins ISBN: 0-312-97192-3 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: February, 2000 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Refreshing Blend of Mystery and Music.
Comment: One of the greatest mysteries in the music world is the life and death of Robert Johnson, whose twenty plus single recordings are a major influence of the blues as well rock and roll. How did Johnson learn to play so well? Did he he indeed go to the crossroads and sell his soul to the devil. Why, when he recorded his songs, did he sit facing the wall. Are there more recordings hidden some place? Why did he die? Was he murdered? If so who did it?
Into this real mystery Atkins spins a tale with his PI, musician, and Blues History professor, Nick Travers, searching for a lost collegue. Into the mix he brings intriguing charecters who are as real as the Mississippi Delta cotton fields. You can almost feel the mud squishing between your toes and heat rise of the fields.
Blended in is the legend of Johnson, and the missing recordings as well as his sudden death. Also you will see the shadow of David "Honeyboy" Edwards, a frequent traveling partner of Robert Johnson. In the real world "Honeyboy" is still alive and making music. Well in to his 80's his abilities on the guitar are still remarkable.
This is a well written first novel.
Rating: 4
Summary: "Crossroad Blues": A Hell of a Book
Comment: All the reviews I've read of "Crossroad Blues" have been positive, and this one will be no different. Ace Atkins uses the death of enigmatic bluesman Robert Johnson's death as a starting point for "Crossroad Blues", a mystery starring Nick Travers (whose name, Atkins thoughtfully points out in a pre-novel note, means "dweller at a crossroads"), a former New Orleans Saint who is now a semi-drunk teacher and musician. When one of Travers' colleagues disappears while researching a set of nine mythical recordings possible laid down by Johnson, Travers tries to track him down, only to become embroiled in a search for the recordings and the answer to Johnson's untimely murder.
Here's the lowdown: Robert Johnson recorded only 29 songs in his life. While he lived, he cultivated rumors about himself that suggested he had earned his musical skill by trading guitars with the devil. He died in 1938 under mysterious circumstances (various rumors had it he was either stabbed or poisoned).
It's a credit to Atkins' skill as a storyteller that his fictional characters blend seamlessly into the blues mythology. His retelling of Johnson's life made me wish I had grown up black and impoverished in the 30's. The mystery was, if implausible, engaging and entertaining.
I'm a sucker for stories of this type - found manuscripts, new recordings of old musicians, old paintings found under repaintings - so the story kept me going. But the novel did not hit the high point I was expecting from previous raves. Instead of simply telling his story, Atkins at times tries too hard for literary strokes, producing these clunkers:
"Daniel Rose's dusty Oldsmobile was parked next to a mound of rich upchurned soil that resembled a spilled chocolate ice-cream scoop."
"Looked like Superman's badassed twin from the Bizarro Planet."
"Dawn broke over Jesse Garon's head like a spilled blue milkshake."
This book would have benefited from a few well-placed commas. Most of Travers' internal dialog is written in sentence fragments, a device I find tiresome. Most of the fragments would have fit neatly onto the preceding sentence, but Atkins' insistence on maintaining a "realistic" internal voice apparently prevents him from obeying the rules of grammar.
A few reviewers have mentioned the character Jesse Garon, the hitman who looks like a young Elvis ("The one from the postage stamp," says another character), as one of the more intriguing villains to come along in a while. Frankly, I thought Sarah Shankman wrote him better in "The King is Dead". Yep. That's right. Someone else wrote an Elvis-obsessed killer who may or may not be Elvis' lost twin brother Jesse Garon fully five years before this novel (in reality, Jesse died at birth).
Overall, this was a remarkable book, notable for its knowledge of the early greats and for the creation of a likeable anti-hero. I look forward to reading Ace Atkins' next Nick Travers book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Series of Blues Mysteries
Comment: "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!
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Title: Dark End of the Street by Ace Atkins ISBN: 0060004606 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 08 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Persuader: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child ISBN: 0385336667 Publisher: Delacorte Press Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Last Car to Elysian Fields: A Novel by James Lee Burke ISBN: 0743245423 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Dirty South by Ace Atkins ISBN: 0060004622 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Everglades by Randy Wayne White ISBN: 0399150587 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 29 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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