Ace Atkins’ ‘The Sinners’ action-packed crime drama

‘Rescued’ heartwarming mystery

By Oline H. Cogdill

he Sinners: A Quinn Colson Novel” (Putnam), by

Mississippi’s rural Tibbehah County — the evocative setting for Ace Atkins’ superior series about Quinn Colson, a former Army Ranger turned sheriff — is the crossroads of all things good and evil. Here, ordinary people too often intersect with members of the crime syndicate and general low-life people who have infiltrated the area.

In the action-packed “The Sinners”, Quinn again is battling drug traffickers who are using Tibbehah as their headquarters. Dirt-track racers Tyler and Cody Pritchard are carrying on the family business by growing marijuana on their farm. But the brothers’ lucrative sideline is running into troubles that have nothing to do with the law. Their violent, racist uncle Heath shows up one night after serving 23 years in prison, planning to take charge of the brothers’ land and business, with or without their permission. Meanwhile, Fannie Hathcock, who runs the huge strip club Vienna’s Place, believes the Pritchards have violated their agreement by selling more marijuana than they raise. That hurts Fannie’s standing with the Dixie Mafia that has its tentacles in Vienna’s Place, its largest source for laundering money.

Investigating the drug trade and the murders that have resulted from the rivalry is taking priority in Quinn’s professional life, but the sheriff is also dealing with a major life change. He’s less than a week away from marrying nurse Maggie Powers and becoming a father to her 7-year-old son, Brandon.

Atkins constructs his series to be equally a look at the criminal invasion in Quinn’s part of Mississippi and a story about families — a technique that provides balance to “The Sinners”. Quinn’s closeness to his mother, sister Caddy and nephew Jason provide him with balance that will expand when he marries and takes on the responsibility of fatherhood.

Quinn’s extended family also is a major part of his life, especially former soldier Boom Kimbrough. Although the Pritchard brothers are criminals and crude, Atkins shows they have a strong bond and actually care about each other. Their volatile uncle is another matter. Even the devious Fannie has a sense of humanity that occasionally peeks through.

Tibbehah County and the town of Jericho are small areas with bigcity problems as Atkins maintains the sense of community that flows through the region. “The Sinners” showcases the beauty of Mississippi, from its fields to the winding Natchez Trace.

Atkins, who also is continuing the late Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels, delivers a solid thriller with “The Sinners”, while leaving plenty of story threads for the ninth installment in this series.

Defense attorney Andy Carpenter is known to win seemingly unwinnable cases. In “Rescued”, the 17th of David Rosenfelt’s novels featuring Carpenter, the maverick legal eagle’s not sure if he can pull off his usual miracle because the evidence against his client is overwhelming.

Private investigator David Kramer is accused in the death of Kenny Zimmer, who was transporting 61 dogs from the deep South to the Northeast, where they could be adopted.

Kramer says he shot Zimmer at a rest stop in New Jersey, but insists that it was in self-defense. Zimmer, he says, asked to meet him in the tractor-trailer carrying the dogs, but when he showed up, Zimmer came at him with a large knife.

No knife was found at the crime scene. Carpenter theorizes that a third person hiding in the truck removed the knife, but video footage recorded no such person. Worse, Kramer had beaten up Zimmer once before.

Defending the man is emotionally difficult for Carpenter. He must overcome his “childish jealousy” of Kramer, his beloved wife’s ex-boyfriend. Still, Carpenter does his best to defend Kramer. While taking care of the dogs from the truck at a dog rescue foundation he operates with friends, he tries to find answers to two questions: What happened to the knife? Why are no dog rescue centers in the Northeast expecting the arrival of these dogs?

In his search for the truth, Carpenter is helped by familiar characters such as Marcus the bodyguard, “the scariest person on the planet,” and Hike the associate lawyer, “the most downbeat person in the history of the world.”

In the end, a minor incident involving a dog enables Carpenter not only to win an acquittal for Kramer, but also to uncover a conspiracy that could have resulted in a national disaster.

Rosenfelt has written mysteries with different protagonists, but the humorous Carpenter series makes him one of the most unforgettable

authors in the genre.

(MCD and Farrar, Straus and Giroux), by

Maria Dahvana Headley’s new novel, “The Mere Wife”, is much more than a simple recasting of the ancient epic poem “Beowulf” in the suburbs. It’s “The Stepford Wives”, 9/11 and English class thrown into a lyrical blender, and it’s kind of glorious.

For those who forgot the poem immediately after high school, “Beowulf” is the Anglo-Saxon classic about a warrior who saves a kingdom first from the monster Grendel, then Grendel’s mother and then a dragon.

Headley, who also is working on a new translation of “Beowulf”, subverts the epic by exploring its goodversus-evil battle from the perspective of women who were largely left on the margins by the ancient bards.

Grendel’s mother even gets a name: Dana Mills, a former soldier from the wrong side of the tracks exiled to a mountain. When her son Gren crosses paths with the prince of a nearby gated community, she encounters a formidable foe in suburban ice queen Willa Herot.

The hero is supposed to be local police officer Ben Woolf. The bards already covered his heroics, so Headley cleverly reflects on his shortcomings. He’s no match for his wife’s ambitious mother, let alone Gren’s overprotective mom.

Gren and Dana threaten Willa’s routine, her low-carb diet and her tasteful decor. But are they really monsters? It’s hard to tell when everyone ends up covered in blood.

You don’t have to remember “Beowulf” to get what Headley is saying here: a monster lives in every mirror, and every enemy is someone else’s hero.

(Little, Brown and Co), by

In “Give Me Your Hand”, author Megan Abbott turns to the dark side of friendship and ambition with an intriguing story about two women scientists vying to conduct groundbreaking work in a pressure cooker of a research lab. Abbott infuses just enough science to boost her novel without overwhelming it. The lab is a metaphor for any demanding workplace such as a law firm, a hospital or a newspaper.

Kit Owens and Diane Fleming became awkward, uneasy friends in high school, drawn together by prowess on the track and their interest in science. The teens inspire each other to do better and to want more. They are each other’s closest and fiercest competitor. They both want to win a scholarship established by a legendary scientist. Then Diane confesses an unfathomable dark secret that makes Kit end their friendship. Kit often remembers “My mom always says, you don’t have a self until you have a secret.” But Diane’s revelation was beyond the pale for Kit, showing her “what darkness was, and is, and how it works, and how it never goes away, or ends.”

A dozen years later, Kit is firmly ensconced in the scientist’s demanding lab, putting in long hours and putting up with the barely concealed misogyny. Each of the scientists wants to be part of a two-person team that will study premenstrual dysphoric disorder. The others assume Kit’s position is assured as she is the only female researcher. Then Diane shows up, hired from a competing lab. The two women haven’t seen each other since high-school graduation. But the years haven’t tempered their rivalry, distrust and mutual need for the other’s approval.

Abbott strongly dissects obsessions that easily morph into destruction and aspirations that spiral into blind ambition. The personalities of Diane and Kit are manifested through their work. The wealthy Diane is all about image with a relentless need for perfection, while Kit, who never expected to go beyond a third-rate college, focuses on the research. Each woman has sacrificed much for her ambition, but one lost her soul to achieve her goal.

In “Give Me Your Hand”, Abbott again shows why she’s one of our best story tellers.

(St Martin’s Griffin), by

Being the only single person in the family is sometimes annoying. It’s worse when parents get involved, aggressively pushing every available guy in your direction. In “The Real Deal”, author Lauren Blakely adds a fun twist to this scenario by introducing an unexpected character into the mix.

April Hamilton is happy being a successful single woman. And she knows that having a date at her side at her family reunion will keep her nosey relatives off her case. So she hires a professional escort to pose as her boyfriend for the weekend.

Theo Banks is an actor who discovered a sweet way to make money. There are tons of women who need dates for various occasions and he can morph into anyone they want him to be. Playing the role of “fake boyfriend” isn’t his dream job, but one more high-paying gig will get him out of debt so he can stop running from his past.

April and Theo have been attracted to each other from the moment they met. When Theo insists they discuss important relationship details, like how they met, April effortlessly settles into her role as the doting girlfriend. Soon, not only is the family buying the intricate details of their lives, but April sometimes forgets that this is all a ruse. Moreover, she finds herself wanting the stories to be real.

Theo feels the same way. He finds himself falling for April, but has no idea if she feels the same way. Is he picking up on flirtatious signals? Or is she just convincingly playing her part?

Told from the perspectives of both April and Theo, “The Real Deal” is a breezy beach read. (AP)