by Ace Atkins
First published 1998
A college professor vanishes while chasing rumors of undiscovered Robert Johnson recordings. The legendary blues guitarist died under mysterious circumstances over fifty years ago, but someone doesn't want his secrets exposed. Nick Travers, a former football player who now studies blues history, takes up the search. The trail leads him through the dark corners of the music world, where old grudges run deep and people kill to protect buried truths. Travers must navigate dangerous territory as he pieces together what really happened to both the missing professor and the murdered musician. The deeper he digs into the past, the more he realizes that some mysteries carry a deadly price. His quest becomes a race against time to solve a decades-old murder before he becomes the next victim.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: buried-secrets, race-against-time
Period: 20th-century
226 pages · Hardcover · St Martins Pr