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Someone recently commented to me that there seemed to be an overabundance of private investigators plying their wares around New Orleans in general and the French Quarter in particular. The French Quarter is only one square mile in area, and it would certainly seem as if fictional gumshoes would be tripping over each other if they actually existed in our world. The setting, however, is irresistible for both writers and readers, and as a result, I don't think we'll be suffering from a lack of fictional detectives in New Orleans any time soon.
Ace Atkins is one of the authors who is part of the more recent wave of novelists whose fictional creations walk the grid of the Vieux Carre. DARK END OF THE STREET, Atkins third novel featuring Nick Travers, finds Atkins still in search of his own voice, still caught somewhere between the absurd but biting commentary of Carl Hiaasen and the darkness of James Lee Burke. The occasional geographical errors --- if one turns north from Conti onto Decatur, one is going down river, not upriver, toward Jackson Square; and the French Quarter Tipitina's was on North Peters, not Decatur, and south of Conti --- are minor but unnecessary distractions, as are the gratuitous political potshots which both Atkins and the reader would be better off without. Atkins' characters remain lively and interesting, and his descriptions of Quarter haunts such as Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop are dead-on.
DARK END OF THE STREET finds Travers, a former professional football player and current music history professor, attempting to assist Loretta Jackson, one of his best friends, locate her brother, Clyde James. James, a legendary soul singer from Memphis, seemed in the 1960s to be on the threshold of a brilliant career when his wife and best friend were murdered. James, his life and mind shattered, turned to the streets and disappeared. He is believed to be long dead until Loretta is threatened by two strangers who are seeking James's whereabouts. She goes to Travers, who finds that the trail to both James and the strangers leads to a gambling casino in Tunica, Mississippi.
Atkins interjects himself into a situation at the casino and finds himself involved with Abby MacDonald, a young woman whose parents were suddenly and mysteriously murdered and who now has some dangerous individuals after her as well. It develops that MacDonald's situation dovetails into Travers' own investigation and that the people who murdered MacDonald's parents, and who are after her, are also quite interested in the whereabouts of Clyde James. Atkins gradually uncovers a tale that involves deeds and errors that took place four decades previously, which will have serious repercussions in the present. Atkins also faces a danger from his own past which is wholly unexpected, but no less dangerous for it.
DARK END OF THE STREET paints a portrait of an area and culture in uneasy transition, coming to grips with its past while facing the future. Notwithstanding whatever weaknesses Atkins is still dealing with as a novelist, his portrayal of the music business in the '60s in general, and the independent southern record label scene in particular, is absolutely first rate. You can almost see the 45s spinning on the turntable, the deals being cut, the books being juggled. Atkins does everything but name the names; if you know the scene, however, you know exactly who he's talking about. This is a man who will undoubtedly continue to grow and develop as a writer, and will continue to be worth watching and reading.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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