Ace Atkins is an American journalist and author. Atkins worked as a crime reporter in the newsroom of The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune, published in Tampa, Florida, is one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area, second in circulation and readership to the St. Petersburg Times. The paper's tagline is "Life...

before he published his first novel, Crossroad Blues, in 1998. He became a full-time novelist at the age of 30.

While at the Tribune, Atkins earned a Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 nomination for a feature series based on his investigation into a forgotten murder of the 1950s

1950s

The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

. The story became the core of his critically acclaimed novel, White Shadow, which was commented on positively by noted authors and critics. In his next novels, Wicked City and Devil’s Garden, Atkins continued this kind of story-telling, a style that was compared to that of Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy...

 and George Pelecanos

George Pelecanos

George P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...

.

Devil’s Garden, Wicked City, and White Shadow are all very personal books for Atkins, all set in his former homes: San Francisco, where he lived as a child; Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, his family’s home and where he was born and went to college; and Tampa

Tâmpa

Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...

, where he embarked on his career as a writer. Each novel contains bits of himself – friends and colleagues he once knew, people he respected or admired, family members, and personal heroes. In Devil’s Garden, Atkins explores the early life of one of those heroes: Dashiell Hammett

Dashiell Hammett

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...

, the originator of the hard-boiled crime novel. As a Pinkerton Agency detective, Hammett investigated the rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 and manslaughter

Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

 case against early Hollywood

Cinema of the United States

The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 star

Movie star

A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...

 Roscoe Arbuckle, one of the most sensational trials of the 20th Century. Atkins' 2010 novel Infamous is based on the 1933 Charles Urschel

Charles F. Urschel

Charles F. Urschel was a Texas oilmen and kidnap victim of George “Machine Gun” Kelly.- Early years :Charles Urschel was born in Washington Township, Hancock County, Ohio in 1890 to Daniel Urschel and Emma M Bangert....

 kidnapping and subsequent misadventures of the gangster spouses George "Machine Gun"

Machine Gun Kelly

George Kelley Barnes , better known as "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster during the prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most famous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon & businessman Charles Urschel in July 1933 for which he,...

 and Kathryn Kelly.

In 2011 Atkins was selected by the estate of Robert B. Parker

Robert B. Parker

Robert Brown Parker was an American crime writer. His most famous works were the novels about the private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the late 1980s; a series of TV movies based on the character were also...

 to take over writing the Spenser series of novels.

Atkins lives on a historic farm outside Oxford, Mississippi

Oxford, Mississippi

Oxford is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1835, it was named after the British university city of Oxford in hopes of having the state university located there, which it did successfully attract....

 with his family. He graduated from Auburn University

Auburn University

Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

 in 1994 and lettered for the Auburn University football team

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 in 1992 and 1993. He was featured on the Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

cover commemorating the Tigers perfect 11-0 1993 season. The cover shows Atkins celebrating after sacking future Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

 winner Danny Wuerffel

Danny Wuerffel

Daniel Carl "Danny" Wuerffel is a former American college and professional football player who won the 1996 Heisman Trophy and the 1996 national football championship while playing college football for the University of Florida. After graduating from Florida, he played for four National Football...

 of the Florida Gators

Florida Gators

The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...

. Atkins wore #99 for the Tigers.

Nick Travers Mystery

• Crossroad Blues
• Leavin' Trunk Blues
• The Dark End of the Street
• Dirty South

Stand Alone Novels

• White Shadow 400 pages ISBN 0425230546
• Wicked City 368 pages ISBN 0425227073
• Devil's Garden 368 pages ISBN 0399155368
• Infamous 416 pages ISBN 0399156305