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Aug 03, 2018maucarden rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
When my husband and I would sit around with our friends recalling stories about Mississippi criminals, we would always preface them with “You just can’t make this stuff up.” Well I hope to God that Ace Atkins made up most of his stories in the wonderful The Sinners. Even in North Mississippi I don’t think most of the wide variety of thugs and redneck criminals in the Quin Colson series could exist outside of Mr. Atkins’ fertile mind. The major conundrums in Mr. Atkins’ books is which set of sinners is the worst? The woman who answers to the Dixie Mafia, but often sets her own agenda; the trashy pot growers who live to race; their out of control uncle just fresh out of Parchman Penitentiary; the bikers just rebuilding their club; the Memphis crime boss; or the crooked politicians who are also controlled by the Dixie Mafia? To balance the criminals, Mr. Atkins doesn’t forget that the majority of people in North Mississippi are warm, lovely people; many with ties to the land going back generations. In the outstanding The Sinners Sheriff Quin Colson of Tibbehah County is about to get married; one of his closest friends and former deputies, Lillie Virgil, has moved to Memphis and become a U.S. Marshal; his other very close friend, Boom Kimbrough, has gone back to trucking with near disastrous results. Colson also has a gruesome murder to investigate. . Add to this mix the Dixie Mafia attempting to control just about everything in north Mississippi. Well, they soon enough find out they can’t control Miss Fannie Hathcock, owner of Vienna, a gentleman’s club. Fannie and everyone else also find out ain’t nobody can control Heath Pritchard, newly released from Parchman and determined to take control of his numbskull nephews and their incredible pot growing operation. The Dixie Mafia, which is actually an existing loose confederation of southern criminals, has their nasty tentacles into drugs, stolen goods ad human trafficking. They make several mistakes in Tibbehah county, but they aren’t the sort to forgive and forget which gives us the set-up for the next book. Not every plot line revolves around Colson-or at least not yet, nor does he take center stage; but the former U.S. Army Ranger is the heart of Tibbehah County as he does his best to protect its citizens. The Sinners is action packed with richly drawn characters. Reading this book is like riding shot-gun with a Pritchard boy during one of his races. The language is rough as usual, but the writing is still as smooth as a soft-serve ice cream cone. Atkins, is a phenomenal story teller in the rich southern way-you must be born to it. Born to it, but still able to make use of his birthright. He will no doubt be doing readings in bookstores; he should instead be sitting on a front porch with bourbon or beer, a hound or two and a bunch of people. Maybe he should be doing a reading around the fire after a day at deer camp. Best of all he should be doing a reading at a catfish fry thrown by a North Mississippi sheriff. I would give The Sinners the proverbial sixth star for the mention of MBN and the shout out to The Roosevelt Hotel and Sazeracs. I will drink a well made Sazerac on release day. PS I too had a catfish fry for my rehearsal dinner.