A modern, Southern re-invention of The Maltese Falcon, Crossroad Blues won noir fans with its nod to the masters and thrilled readers with a wild ride along Highway 61. It’s here that we first meet Nick Travers, an ex-New Orleans Saint turned Tulane University blues historian. Nick searches for the lost recordings of 1930s bluesman Robert Johnson—and a missing colleague—and finds trouble at every turn.

The cast of characters includes a red-headed siren, an Elvis-worshipping hitman, Johnson’s ghost, and the Mississippi Delta itself. A decade later, Crossroad Blues still sings.

Anniversary edition features all-new material:

• Foreword by Greil Marcus
• Afterword by the author
• Nick Travers short story, published here for the first time

Critical Praise

“In Atkins’ hands, the characters are as substantial as a down home breakfast of biscuits and ham with red-eye gravy.” —Entertainment Weekly

“When (Atkins) old guys open up, you can really hear the music everybody talks about so reverently.” —The New York Times

“Atkins’ research into blues history adds depth and context to the always entertaining story, which whizzes by like an old, familiar song heard on the car radio late at night.” —The Chicago Tribune

“Ace Atkins brings to mystery what Muddy Waters brought to music—the totally unexpected and the absolute sublime.” —Ken Bruen