{{short description|American journalist and author|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{BLP sources|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox writer | name = Ace Atkins | image = Ace Atkins Natick MA 2013.jpg | caption = Ace Atkins (2013; age 43). | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1970|06|28}} | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|06|29|2023|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = Novelist | language = English | nationality = American | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Auburn University | period = | genre = Crime fiction, mystery | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|aceatkins.com}} | portaldisp = }} '''Ace Atkins''' (born June 28, 1970)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aceatkins.com/About/QuickFacts.html |title=Official Site of American Writer Ace Atkins &#124; About: Quick Facts |access-date=2013-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323003817/http://www.aceatkins.com/About/QuickFacts.html |archive-date=2012-03-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> is an American journalist and author. He became a full-time novelist at the age of 30.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

==Biography== Born in 1970, Atkins is the son of NFL player Billy Atkins.<ref name="AuburnTigers.com">{{cite news |last1=Shearer|first1=Jeff |title=On the cover: From sacks to books, Auburn's Ace Atkins stands tall |url=https://auburntigers.com/news/2020/9/20/general-on-the-cover-from-sacks-to-books-auburns-ace-atkins-stands-tall.aspx |access-date=2021-10-13 |work=Auburn Tigers |date=September 20, 2020}}</ref><ref name="AL.com">{{cite news |last1=Edgemon|first1=Erin |title=Alabama native, bestselling author Ace Atkins to be honored |url=https://www.al.com/entertainment/2017/04/alabama_native_bestselling_aut.html |access-date=2021-10-13 |work=AL.com |date=January 13, 2019}}</ref>

Atkins lettered for the Auburn University football team in 1992 and 1993.<ref name="le1">{{cite web|url=http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/296560.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130127203547/http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/296560.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-27 |title=A Q and A with author Ace Atkins |last=Barnes |first=Brad |date=April 14, 2008 |publisher=Columbus Ledger-Enquirer |accessdate=2010-01-26 }}</ref> He was featured on the ''Sports Illustrated'' cover commemorating the Tigers' perfect 11–0 season of 1993. The cover shows Atkins celebrating after sacking future Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel of the Florida Gators. Atkins wore number 99 for the Tigers.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}. He graduated from Auburn University in 1994.<ref name="le1" />

Atkins worked{{when|date=May 2022}} as a crime reporter in the newsroom of ''The Tampa Tribune'' before he published his first novel, ''Crossroad Blues'' (1998).{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} While at the ''Tribune'', Atkins earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for a feature series based on his investigation into a forgotten murder of the 1950s.<ref name="sfc1">{{cite web|url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/17/devils-garden-is-a-remarkable-book/|title='Devil's Garden' is a remarkable book|last=DeSilva|first=Bruce|date=April 20, 2009|publisher=Associated Press|accessdate=2013-05-08 }}</ref> 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 and George Pelecanos.<ref name="sfc1" />

''White Shadow'' (2006), ''Wicked City'' (2008), and ''Devil's Garden'' (2009) are personal books for Atkins, all set in his former homes: San Francisco, where he lived as a child; Alabama, his family's home and where he was born and went to college; and Tampa, 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.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

In ''Devil's Garden'', Atkins explores the early life of one of those heroes: Dashiell Hammett, the originator of the hard-boiled crime novel. As a Pinkerton Agency detective, Hammett investigated the rape and manslaughter case against early Hollywood star Roscoe Arbuckle, one of the most sensational trials of the 20th Century.<ref name="sfc1" /> Atkins' novel ''Infamous'' (2010) is based on the 1933 Charles Urschel kidnapping and subsequent misadventures of the gangster couple George "Machine Gun" and Kathryn Kelly.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

In 2011, Atkins was selected by the estate of Robert B. Parker to take over writing the Spenser series of novels.<ref name="spenser">[http://archive.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2011/04/28/parkers_series_live_on/ "Parker's series live on" by Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein, ''Boston Globe'' April 28, 2011]</ref> ''The Boston Globe'' wrote that while some people might have "viewed the move as unseemly, those people didn't know Robert B. Parker, a man who, when asked how his books would be viewed in 50 years, replied: 'Don't know, don't care.' He was proud of his work, but he mainly saw writing as a means of providing a comfortable life for his family."<ref name="Globe 2013">{{cite news|last1=Bissonette|first1=Zac|title=Robert B. Parker is dead. Long live Robert B. Parker!|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2013/05/11/how-robert-parker-family-has-ensured-that-spenser-adventures-continue/Ae3xng4kdtXGUi1lawut3L/story.html|accessdate=13 January 2016|work=Boston Globe|date=May 12, 2013}}</ref> His 2016 Parker novel ''Slow Burn'' won a Scribe Award for Best Original Novel.<ref name=S17>{{cite web|url=https://locusmag.com/2017/07/2017-scribe-awards-winners|title=2017 Scribe Award Winners|publisher=Locus Online|date=July 27, 2017|access-date=August 6, 2025}}</ref>

==Personal life== In a 2023 interview for CrimeReads, Atkins said he's been living for the past twenty years on a historic farm outside Oxford, Mississippi with his family.<ref name="le1"/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://crimereads.com/larry-browns-father-and-son-ace-atkins/ | title=The Backlist: Revisiting Larry Brown's "''Father and Son''" with Ace Atkins |website= CrimeReads|date=2 February 2023 }}</ref>

==Novels==

===Nick Travers=== #''Crossroad Blues'' (1998) #''Leavin' Trunk Blues'' (2000) #''Dark End of the Street'' (2002) #''Dirty South'' (2004)

===Quinn Colson=== #''The Ranger'' (2011)<ref>{{cite news|last1=Anderson|first1=Patrick|title=Review of Ace Atkins's 'The Ranger'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/review-of-ace-atkins-the-ranger/2011/05/31/AGuCYjJH_story.html|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=MARTINDALE|first1=DAVID|title=Author interview: Ace Atkins talks about 'The Ranger'|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/books/20110610-author-interview-ace-atkins-talks-about-the-ranger.ece|publisher=Dallas News|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Kardos|first1=Michael|title=Book review: 'The Forsaken' by Ace Atkins|url=http://www.clarionledger.com/story/life/2014/12/13/book-review-forsaken-ace-atkins/20363377/|publisher=Clarion Ledger|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Gill|first1=Leonard|title=Summer Book Roundup|date=3 October 2014 |url=http://www.memphismagazine.com/September-2014/Summer-Book-Roundup/|publisher=Memphis Magazine|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref> #''The Lost Ones'' (2012)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Weaver|first1=Kendal|title=Book review: Second Quinn Colson novel features romance, dark family secret|url=http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID%3D/20120604/LIVING/306049988/-1/LIVING|publisher=News Sentinel|accessdate=7 June 2015}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Bancroft|first1=Colette|title=Review: Ace Atkins' 'The Lost Ones' has Quinn Colson searching on the mean streets|url=https://www.tampabay.com/features/books/review-ace-atkins-the-lost-ones-has-quinn-colson-searching-on-the-mean/1234102/|publisher=Tampa Bay|access-date=7 June 2015}}</ref> #''The Broken Places'' (2013)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Noble|first1=Don|title=Books:The Broken Places: A Quinn Colson Novel and Robert B. Parker's Wonderland|date=15 July 2013 |url=http://apr.org/post/broken-places-quinn-colson-novel-and-robert-b-parker-s-wonderland|publisher=APR|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref> #''The Forsaken'' (2014)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Anderson|first1=Lanie|title=Atkins pens new novel, signs Wednesday|work=Oxford Citizen |date=July 20, 2014 |url=http://oxfordcitizen.com/2014/07/20/atkins-pens-new-novel-signs-wednesday/|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref> #''The Redeemers'' (2015)<ref>{{cite web|title=Review: 'The Redeemers' by Ace Atkins|date=17 July 2015 |url=https://theoctobercountry.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/review-the-redeemers-by-ace-atkins/|publisher=October Country|accessdate=2 August 2015}}</ref> #''The Innocents'' (2016) #''The Fallen'' (2017)<ref>{{cite web|title=The Fallen (A Quinn Colson Novel)|url=http://www.aceatkins.com/books/the-fallen-a-quinn-colson-novel/ |publisher=aceatkins.com|accessdate=27 July 2017}}</ref> #''The Sinners'' (2018) #''The Shameless'' (2019) #''The Revelators'' (2020) #''The Heathens'' (2021)

===Robert B. Parker's Spenser=== *''Robert B. Parker's Lullaby'' (2012) *''Robert B. Parker's Wonderland'' (2013) *''Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot'' (2014) *''Robert B. Parker's Kickback'' (2015) *''Robert B. Parker's Slow Burn'' (2016) *''Robert B. Parker's Little White Lies'' (2017) *''Robert B. Parker's Old Black Magic'' (2018) *''Robert B. Parker's Angel Eyes'' (2019) *''Robert B. Parker’s Someone To Watch Over Me'' (2020) *''Robert B. Parker's Bye Bye Baby'' (2022)

===Standalone Novels=== *''White Shadow'' (2006) 400 pages {{ISBN|0-425-23054-6}} *''Wicked City'' (2008) 368 pages {{ISBN|0-425-22707-3}} *''Devil's Garden'' (2009) 368 pages {{ISBN|0-399-15536-8}} *''Infamous'' (2010) 416 pages {{ISBN|0-399-15630-5}}

==See also== *List of Auburn University people

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://aceatkins.com/ Official website] * [http://www.noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1&thisauthorid=308 Author page, UK publisher (No Exit Press)]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Ace}} Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:American crime fiction writers Category:American male novelists Category:American non-fiction crime writers Category:Auburn High School (Alabama) alumni Category:Auburn University alumni Category:Auburn Tigers football players Category:20th-century American novelists Category:20th-century American male writers Category:21st-century American novelists Category:People from Oxford, Mississippi Category:Novelists from Mississippi Category:21st-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Southern noir writers