Leavin' Trunk Blues

This is a darker and more complex novel -emotionally and in plot terms -than its predecessor in thr series " Crossroad Blues". The protagonist is once again blues historian and academic ,the ex pro footballer "Nick " .He is lured by an invitation to interview " Ruby Walker " who,recording under the name "Sweet Black Angel " had scored a major hit record in the early 50's and was seemingly set fair to build a lasting and solid career as a blues singer .She was then convicted of murdering her manager,one Billy Lyons. and given a life sentence ,one she is still serving .In their meeting she insists on her innocence and asks Nick to trace the real killer -no mean feat if accomplished since the crime is over 50 years old. He begins digging into the past and finds that some of her band members of the time had died in mysterious circumstances but his investigations are hampered and his life threatened when the local drugs lord Stagger Lee sets out to block his investigations .Stagger Lee is not a man to be trifled with -powerfully built and utterly without scruple he uses two coked out hookers with a mean streak a mile wide to enforce his will . The case is one that unfolds in dark and stagnant backwaters of the spirit and even good guys ,those striving to bring hope into the blighted ghetto world ,are found to be compromised and tainted by contact with evil and moral equivocation. The plot is worked out adequately but what sets the book apart from its competitors is its atmosphere -the weather plays a key role in setting mood .It is a bone freezing Chicago winter with a wind like a lacerating knife that chills to the bone and numbs the spirit ;the rain slices the air and numbs the spirit -a living counterpoint to the slums and despair which forms the book's physical dimension . The book is also a love story -a paen of praise and an economium to the blues -and its bitter sweet ending lifts the spirit and says love can endure . Read it for the mystery elements -they are good -but the blues lovers will get more from the book than will the mystery mavens

Oh, baby don't you want to goBack to the land of California, to my sweet home ChicagoIt seemed like everyone in the Mississippi delta country could hear that sweet song that Robert Johnson sang calling them north to Chicago. It fell on there ears like a sweet lullaby, a promise of a better life to the north. Young Ruby Walker was no exception. As a teenager she haunted the roadhouses and blues joints hoping that one day she could sing the blues in the sweet home up north "Chicago."Well, Ruby did make it north and for a while it was a good and sweet home. Ruby hit the big time and became known for her song Leavin' Trunk Blues. But it seemed predestined that Ruby was to live a life of the blues. One morning she woke up soaked in the blood of her manager and lover, Billy Lyons and before she knew it she was serving life in the big house for his murder.That was in 1959 and as the years pass slowly by, Ruby steadfastly maintained that she is innocent. She begins to write to professor and blues historian Nick Travers. Nick agrees to research the circumstances surrounding the murder, because he hopes to do research on Ruby, her life and the people she knew at the time. Nick feels that historians are missing the opportunity to record living history by forgetting the people who participated in the great migration and focusing on the 1930's and the delta.Ace Atkins has created a tasty mystery with Leavin' Trunk Blues, the second of his Nick Travers series. It is nicely atmospheric taking place in Chicago with Nick visiting blues clubs as well as Chicago's seedy underbelly to dig up information. Fast paced with action and adventure to spare, it draws the reader quickly into Nicks world. Nick is an unlikely sleuth. A former football player who fell in love with the blues and became a blues historian from Tulane University. We find out that he can get down and dirty with the best of them and there are times in Leavin' Trunk Blues that he has to.For a fan of mysteries or a fan of the blues, Leavin' Trunk Blues is a great read. If you are both it is even better.

In his job as Professor of Blues History, Nick Travers has learned enough to suspect that something is wrong with Blues legend Ruby Walker's conviction for murdering her lover. When Ruby invites him to visit her in prison, he grabs the chance. When she tells him she didn't commit the 50 year old murder, he vows to investigate.The novel is set in the dark underside of Chicago. Where once Chicago was the city of hope for sharecroppers fleeing the South, now that hope has vanished. Is Stagger Lee really an urban legend, or did one man have so much to do with Black Chicago's self-destruction? If he does exist, how does he relate to Ruby. Although a bunch of old Blues artists living in the memories of their accomplishments fifty years ago hardly sounds dangerous, Travers finds himself threatened.The novel reeks of the blues--both in its characters and in its themes. The slums of Chicago, the ruins of old Blues clubs, and the ruins of old Blues artists all form part of the tapestry in Atkin's novel. Although there are a few light moments, even these serve to reinforce the message of the blues.

Ace Atkin's second Nick Travers mystery is an absolute great read. The book finds former pro football player now blues professor Nick travers going to Chicago to interview a woman convicted of killing her lover over forty years ago. Sounds simple? Its not when there are people who want this former Blue's singers story to remain buried in the jail cell. Atkin's gets better with each book and Nick Travers could become a classic mystery/ blues tracker. I highly reccomend this book.

Former professional football player, Nick Travers loves his work as Tulane University's blues historian. When convicted murderer Ruby "The Sweet Black Angel" Walker agrees to Nick interviewing her, he can hardly wait. Four decades ago, Ruby was sent to jail for killing her lover Billy Lyons, owner of King Snake Records, in what was considered a "Frankie and Johnny" murder.In Chicago, Nick meets Ruby, who insists she is innocent. She pleads with Nick, who had recent success solving a mystery, to prove her innocence. Unable to resist the lure of Ruby, who was one step away from music legend, Nick begins to investigate the death of Lyons back in 1959. However, his inquires leads to the maniacal Stagger Lee and his assortment of lunatics wanting the case remaining closed and Nick dead. The second Nick Travers' blues mystery, LEAVIN' TRUNK BLUES, is a well written, but much darker tale than its predecessor (see CROSSROAD BLUES) is. The story line still sings with a rhythm not often seen in an amateur sleuth tale. The setting seems ghostly in an abandoned urban way and supplemented by the arctic Christmas weather that together adds up to the overall feeling of gloom. However, the light that shines through the bleak landscape is the heroic Nick, who tries to do the right thing even, as he feels like his enemy's blitz has sacked him several times. Ace Atkins scores with his second mystery that provides readers an entertaining tale that educates the audience on a part of Americana.Harriet Klausner