Life intrudes, but shame on me for taking this long to read this, the ninth entry in the terrific Quinn Colson series. As always, Ace Atkins populates this with characters you’ll both love and hate, authentic southern color, and beautifully written stanzas of gritty violence. The plot matters less than the aforementioned characters. Quinn, of course, but also Lilly Virgil, Caddy Colson, Maggie Colson, big-ass Boom, even Fanny Hathcock, who shows a rare glimpse of weakness in this one. The jump off point, though, is the re-examining of a teenager’s disappearance in the woods and purported suicide more than two decades prior. This new investigation is led by two fierce women all the way from New York who host a popular podcast. Some don’t want the two women kicking up the dust from that long-ago case. And they are willing to kill to keep it buried in the past. This is highly recommended reading.

I am a Midwesterner, so I don't know the ins and outs of the South. That doesn't make this series any less interesting. A former Ranger coming home to fight corruption. Each addition to this series is better,

I've been a Robert B Parker fan for most of life so decided I should read some of the Ace Adkins books written under his own name. I still feel like Ace Adkins likes to interject a little too much politics into his works, but this series is so good you can overlook or skip those parts without losing the thread of the story.
Set in a small town in Mississippi, which could be any small town in Mississippi, the story centers around the sheriff, a former Army Ranger, with a true sense of right from wrong and the dedicated doggedness that will see him through to solving his cases. He's surrounded by a cast of characters that add layers of entertainment value to each story. In the town where he grew up, there cannot be too many secrets he doesn't already know, can there? The story reads as one of the best Netflix series you could find. I'm surprised it has not been developed as one. Pick up any book in the series and you'll see what I mean.

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The Shamless by Ace Atkins is the 9th novel in featuring Sheriff Quinn Colson, a former Army Ranger who has came back home to Tibbehah County, Mississippi and was elected sheriff. The Ranger series is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Brandon Taylor walked in the Big Woods in Tibbehah County and never walked out. Twenty years later sheriff Quinn Colson has reopened the case when Brandon’s bones are found. An old case in a county where everyone know one another, and dark secrets are kept buried deep is a difficult case especially when people know just enough to point fingers and do damage.

Quinn’s uncle, the previous sheriff, has closed the case saying Brandon committed suicide, but a string of letters recently written to Quinn’s wife might be the thing Quinn needs to break the case.

The Quinn Colson series has become one of my favorite series to read. While it started out in a simple manner, a war hero returning home to clean up the town, the novels have become more complex and the characters more interesting.

The Shamless by Ace Atkins is an excellent addition to the series which might have the sheriff’s name on the cover, but is actually a story about the County itself. Mr. Atkins write of Tibbehah County, Mississippi as if it a microcosm of America itself, with all the character which it exhibits to the world, good and bad. One can take a good look at the County and self-reflect

The series is not a fantasy about a good guy with a gun solving each and every problem by brandishing it out and threatening lesser men. I have started to read books like that and they were so dumb I couldn’t finish. Quinn Colson has profound respect for the law, but in no way does he shoot first and ask questions later. Sheriff Colson often gets into a jam for not shooting fast enough and when he does there is hell to pay because he’s not very popular with Tibbehah County’s powerful citizens who seem him as a threat to their fiefdoms.

In this book, to investigative reports who have a podcast offer a different view from the one seen by the regular cast. The journalist (which the author used to be) certainly adds a valuable, interesting, and fun, commentary to the narrative.

This book ends with a cliffhanger, unlike the others in the series. The Ranger novels do touch one another with side threads that tie up the series, but this seem to me like a larger story and I’m already excited thinking about the next book.

I live very close to Memphis, reading Ace Atkins is always like reading a book set in my own back yard. Every time a read a Quin Colson novel, I burn through it in a matter of a day or two. THE SHAMELESS was no exception. This was a remarkable novel. If you're not familiar with the series, you should add it to your list. This book can serve as a stand-alone, however, you will miss some of the character development, which isn't vital, but very enjoyable.

This author gets a lot of rave reviews but I found the characters in the book to be stereotypes. From someone who lives in the South, it's one of my pet peeves to read books about Southners where they are portrayed as rednecks and chicks.

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on July 9, 2019

Brandon Taylor came home from high school, went out deer hunting, and didn’t return. A week later, his body was found with a bullet in the skull. The sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi called it a suicide. Twenty-one years later, a podcasting reporter decides to investigate. The reporter wonders whether Brandon might have been killed by a young Quinn Colson.

Brandon happens to be the boy who took the virginity of Quinn’s new wife. Other sources are telling the reporter that Quinn was jealous of Brandon and that the sheriff, Quinn’s uncle, covered up Quinn’s involvement in Brandon’s death.

Series readers know that Quinn Colson is the current sheriff. Unlike many of the local politicians and other characters in the novel, Quinn is not a redneck homophobic racist. Quinn doesn’t hide behind his religion to conceal his moral faults, unlike politicians who want to build a 60-foot cross to hide the neon lights of the local titty bar. Southern politicians in the Quinn Colson novels are inevitably religious hypocrites, of the sort Roy Moore exemplifies.

In the Colson novels, southern hospitality is a mask that disguises the things nobody in Mississippi wants to talk about: poverty, corruption, bigotry, and the failure to fund schools — a point that Quinn’s sister makes to the reporter. Ace Atkins draws some not-so-subtle parallels between a redneck candidate for governor who relies on the support of white supremacists and a certain president, including the dismissal of attempts to expose the truth as “harassment” and a “witch hunt.” This is not a book that people on the far right are likely to enjoy.

The Shameless makes a deep dive into Quinn’s family history. Much of it, including his relationship with the shady “Uncle Hamp,” has been sketched out in earlier novels. The relationship adds complexity to Quinn’s character. He is loyal to the memory of his uncle (Hamp was a role model who taught Quinn to shoot) but is not blind to the corruption and crime that was allowed to infest the county under Hamp’s watch.

Other family members and friends add color to the story, including Quinn’s mother (perhaps the biggest Elvis fan in Mississippi), his sister Caddy (restoring herself after a troubled past by working to feed and clothe the poor), his friend Boom (whose own drinking problem has worsened since his beating by a man who plays a key role in the story), and his colleague Lillie Virgil, who worked with Quinn until she joined the U.S. Marshals.

Thriller fans generally want good to triumph over evil. Those triumphs are incremental in the Quinn Colson novels, but the reader can cheer for small victories. I enjoy the series because evil is broadly defined to include rednecks who want the South to return to its “traditions,” a code word that includes oppression of everyone who isn’t a straight white male. It will take generations for southern devotion to those abhorrent “traditions” to die, but the Quinn Colson novels provide comfort for those who believe that politicians who fuel prejudice can be overcome, one hypocrite at a time.

The more immediate question is how and why Brandon Taylor died. A team effort finds a satisfying solution to that mystery, but there is more to the story, setting up a continuing plot thread for future novels. Along the way, Atkins delivers entertaining action scenes and gunfights, but the story is centered on characters with personalities that make them seem like real people to fans of the series.

RECOMMENDED

Thanks to netgalley.com, Ace Atkins and Penguin Group Putnam for the advance ARC copy for my honest review.

"The Shameless" is one heck of an awesome read, had me at Lillie Virgie at the start of Chapter 1, it is my favorite read of 2019 and it'll take a special book to top this one.

Quinn Colson's back, the tougher than nails Sheriff of Tibbehah County, with an intertwining storylines ripped right out of the headlines, you got badass U.S. Marshall Lillie Virgie, then add the 20 year old reopened case of Brandon Taylor, the NYC Podcast team, the Dixie Mafia, Fannie Hathcock, Senator Jimmy Vardaman and the Watchman Society.

How can you not like the Quinn Colson character? He's blue collar, digs old Country and Western music, not the candy ass shit they play these days, he's tough as nails, an ex-Ranger who makes Reacher look like a wimp, protecting troubled Tibbehah County as it's Sheriff, family oriented, thinks of nothing to help friends and Atkins just makes him larger than life with his words.

Ace Atkins just never disappoints, he's the ultimate master of character development, just breathes life into them good or bad, they play a vital role in the storylines and aren't just needless distractions to the overall story.

With each new Quinn Colson novel, he keeps raising the bar with each offering, with new elements added to the mix and leaves you eagerly waiting for the next Quinn's adventure. Especially with the cliff hanger ending to "The Shameless", since you know we'll getting a extra helping of her badass self, U.S. Marshall Lillie Virgie or at least I hope we will.

Atkins should be in every reader's book case, he's that good of an author and just feel he deserves more recognition than he gets.

Author Bob Mayer refers to the big known publishing house authors as Airport Authors. Well Ace Atkins would be my favorite airport author, he can out write James Patterson and has a legend smilin' down on him.

Tibbehah County and the county seat of Jericho located in northern Mississippi’s hill country are the nightmare versions of Three Pines, Cabot Cove, and Virtual Falls. Makes those murderous but idyllic little towns sound like paradise. But Tibbehah has Sheriff Quinn Colson who for the last ten years has tried to fight the rampant crime, corruption, and sin in Tibbehah County. But Tibbehah is truly Medusa, cut off one head; there is another to takes its place.
A brilliant opening describes Tibbehah County as only a north Mississippi resident could do so. Except in The Shameless it’s a NYC podcast narrator/investigator who has spent months in Tibbehah investigating the death of a young man, Brandon Taylor, back in 1997. A death that had been ruled a suicide by Colson’s uncle, the former sheriff. That ruling has never set well with the family, and they have been persuasive enough to bring down two Brooklyn women, Tashi and Jessica, to investigate.
Not eggzactly (sic) what Colson needs at the moment as evil is once again on the move in Tibbehah. Evil appears in the form of Miss Fannie, owner of Vienna’s Place strip club, who controls most of the crime in north Mississippi and wants to control more. Much more. Evil in the form of Mr. Skinner, county supervisor, who wants to shut down Vienna’s place and wants to place a huge cross in front of it; and the good Christian man is willing to do anything to reach his goal. Anything. Maybe, the ultimate evil appears in the form of state Senator Jimmy Vardaman who is within one more election of reaching the Governor’s Mansion. One election he can’t possibly lose.
Tashi and Jessica’s investigation proves to be a real PITA for Colson, later they make up for their mistakes and prove to be great help
Author Ace Atkins has spent a great amount of time building Tibbehah and letting us get to know many of its inhabitants and to grow relationships with them. Who didn’t cheer when Johnny Stagg was finally sent to jail, but who hasn’t missed him? Who wasn’t horrified when Lillie joined the Marshall Service but relieved she is still a strong, funny part of Tibbehah? We have watched Jason grown up, and am I alone by being intrigued S/A Holliday? Oh and three cheers for the skank finally being in the back window with Maggie front and center.
Near the beginning of The Shameless, there is a scene with Quinn and Maggie at the Neshoba County fair, which is an extremely odd and wonderful place.
Carnival rides, horse racing, but the most important part of the fair is the political speechifying, for both state wide and national politicians. Quinn and Maggie are sickened as they listen to Vardaman unload his usual crap, that somehow sounds so familiar to the reader.
It is here that Quinn and Maggie first encounter Vardaman’s faux tough guy bully boys, The Watchmen. Atkins once again gives us a new definition of evil. But of course if we watch the news, it ain’t so new.
So if you stripped away the bad language, awful crimes, repulsive characters, could this wonderful book and the other Colson books possibly be cozies? Ha, not bloody likely. But then again, the sometimes bucolic setting, the small town coming back to life, the strong unbreakable family ties, the friendship ties just as sturdy, the strong religious beliefs and always the hope that good will prevail are always present in the Quinn Colson series. Note to self, these are dark and violent stories, no matter the framework.
Atkins once again checks all the boxes for an outstanding crime story; vile villains, flawed heroes, original stories, and crisp writing.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I originally became familiar with Ace Atkins when he took over writing the Spenser books following the death of Robert B Parker. Since then I have been reading his books about Tibbehah County, Mississippi, and his protagonist, Quinn Colson. The Colson books are very different from the Spenser books; how Atkins keeps both series going with such accuracy is a mystery to me.

“The Shameless,” is the perfect title for this book. I don’t like spoilers, so I won’t give away anything about the plot, but this book is about corruption, and what it does to people’s souls. If Mississippi is as corrupt as Atkins shows it to be, and I have no reason to disbelieve him, then it is even worse than I thought. How people can live this way is unfathomable. Atkins pulls no punches, and shines a bright light on a state he obviously loves, or he wouldn’t live there.

Equally shocking, at least to this reader, is the casual racist speech and attitudes among some of the characters. Again, Atkins is relentless in exposing how some real people must think and behave. The ugliness and evil of these characters is palpable. If Quinn Colson and other characters represent the New South, they still have to live among the remnants of the old one. It doesn’t make for an easy life.

This is such a good book, and I am very glad that I read it. If you have not read any of the preceding Quinn Colson books you will still be able to follow along in this one. There is a mystery around which the plot is organized, but that mystery is only part of this multilayered book. “The Shameless” is a meditation on a time and place, and that is what gives the book its richness. If I had a choice between reading Ace Atkins and William Faulkner, I would go with Atkins. I heartily recommend this book.

This is one good mystery as sizzling as the Mississippi summer. It is fast paced and filled with good undercurrents that keep you guessing.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

THE SHAMELESS by Ace Atkins is the 9th book in the “Quinn Colson series”, and once again we find ourselves back in Tibbehah County, where there is always something dark & dirty present in the small rural community, and once again the topless bar formerly known as “The Booby Trap” (formerly owned by the infamous Johnny Stagg), that is now allegedly a classier establishment in it’s current ownership by the beautiful but dangerous Fannie Hathcock, plays an important role in what criminal activity is currently taking place.

Brandon Taylor is a long forgotten young man who disappeared years ago, and Quinn Colson, who is the local Sheriff, is approached by two out of town reporters who have taken an interest in the cold case hoping to jump start the investigation to find the truth behind the disappearance and presumed death, as well as uncovering those responsible if possible.

Quinn has to face interference by those connected to the “Watchmen”, a loyal but misguided vigilante-like group loyal to Senator Jimmy Vardeman, and Skinner, a sleazy character who’s reinvention of himself as a pious God fearing individual loyal to Vardeman, is also bent on once and for all closing down the topless establishment that Fannie runs, as there is no love lost between the two with the lines drawn long ago.

The Dixie Mafia is ever present and plays a big role in the behind the scenes activities and controls the criminal activity in the community with the power to determine the leadership in everything associated with the income generated by all illegal activities in the bar, along with related hidden revenues generated within.


Ace Atkins has once again added another strong novel to this series that never fails to paint a vivid picture of the life in this locale that on the surface appears quaint and quiet, but has an underbelly that is sleazy and evil in the shadows, and Quinn as always must overcome all odds to rid the area of the old and new players that would destroy the life he’d like to see for his community’s future.

5 stars.

Been on a roll lately reading all my favorite characters in mystery fiction and Quinn Colson is at the top. His descriptions of the people and places in Mississippi are sizzling, the reader can feel the heat emanating from the pages. I recommend this series to my customers who love Lee Child or James Lee Burke. Ace Atkins is one of my favorites!

The Shameless is the ninth novel in the Quinn Colson series and to this reader shows few signs of growing stale or repetitive.

Ace Atkins turns out well-written and enjoyable crime novels with interesting characters.

In The Shameless, Atkins also includes current trends to keep his novel timely. In The Shameless, two young women outside of the South and with little knowledge of the South, have been persuaded to look into a decades-old suspicious suicide some believe was murder instead of a suicide.

The two young ladies soon start their investigation into a matter many would prefer to leave alone and under each discovery of new information, links to the death stretch out in different, surprising directions.

Running in simultaneous parallel plotlines, Atkins throws in previously introduced characters, as well as plot lines originating in previous Colson novels, to keep things interesting. In some ways, The Shameless is similar to an ensemble television series that allows each character to grow and expand in their depictions.

The Shameless and other Quinn Colson novels are highly recommended. It is also surprising these novels have not been developed for television.

In 1997 a teenager is found dead in the Big Woods, his shotgun nearby. Easy solve; another teen suicide. Twenty years later, two New York true crime podcasters arrive in Tibbehah County, Mississippi, to reopen — and hopefully answer questions — about Brandon Taylor’s death.
Sheriff Quinn Colson is willing to help where he can, but he’s got more urgent business, trying to shut down the criminal enterprises that have controlled Tibbehah County for too long. The evil is metastasizing, and will soon control the entire state, that is, if they can get rid of Quinn Colson first.

I received a free advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.

A spray-tanned sack of crap is about to win a major election because he’s very good at firing up rubes with promises of returning to a time that never really existed, and even when his shady connections and criminal history are exposed all he has to do is claim that it’s all lies by the media to get his loyal followers to ignore the stories.

You know, I usually read crime fiction to escape reality...

Quinn Colson has been the sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi, for almost ten years now, but things aren’t getting any easier for him. The rise of a populist candidate for governor who wants to turn back the clock has excited a whole bunch of deplorable people who feel emboldened to act like an even bigger assholes than usual. The candidate also has ties to the Dixie Mafia, and that relationship has caused an internal power struggle in the organization which reaches all the way to the lady running the local strip club. Meanwhile, a couple of podcasters from New York have come to Tibbehah to dig into the mysterious death of a high school boy twenty years earlier. That has personal connections to Quinn because his late uncle, the sheriff at the time, declared the boy’s death a suicide to the satisfaction of no one, and Quinn’s new wife was dating the kid when he died.

This series started with a fairly simple hook of a war hero returning to his hometown and trying to stop the crime and corruption he finds there. However, that summary makes it sound like this is a bunch of books about a bad ass action hero going lone wolf and taking the law into his own hands, and that’s just not the case. While Quinn is definitely a guy who can take care of himself in a fight, the solution is never just a matter of shooting the bad guys. Quinn respects the law and due process even if the people in power around him often don’t, and so the books aren’t just the fantasy of a good guy with a gun being the answer to everyone’s problem.

Another thing is that even though the series revolves around Quinn this is not just his story. Over the course of nine books Ace Atkins has built up the population of Tibbehah County to the point where we’ve spent as much time with players like Quinn’s family, friends, and enemies as we do with him. By building up every aspect of his fictional county and all of its characters Atkins has made the story about much more than just one sheriff in a small rural community.

That really pays off in this one because Tibbehah is clearly supposed to be a microcosm of America, and it’s obvious who the crooked political candidate is standing in for. The book displays how the promise of preserving traditions and culture as well as returning to some imagined glory days is just racist code used by rich old white men to try and keep their power. It’s also easy to see that as a former journalist Atkins is angry how the media has been smeared to give the faithful an excuse to turn a blind eye to crimes and horrible behavior.

The podcast subplot provides another interesting angle on the media aspect. The two young ladies seem like responsible and decent people who genuinely want to expose the truth about a hidden crime. However, they’re also looking for a good story, and they're just a little too eager to jump on a juicy theory once it presents itself. Again, this seems to be a veteran journalists doing some commentary about how facts are important, but not having the correct context for them or questioning the agenda of how someone presents them should also be considered. That's a very valid point at a time when true crime stories are being picked over and analyzed by podcasts and internet sleuths.

This one also ends on a cliff-hanger and most definitely seems like part one of a larger story. There’s always been some on-going threads from book to book that have built up a larger story in this series, but generally we also get a self-contained storyline as well. This time not much is resolved, but I’ll be counting the days until we find out what happens next.

God it's good to have Colson and the gang back for another episode this summer.

As long as you approach the Tibbehah County novels as episodes and do not hope for something that'll go outside the previously established story model, you'll be as delighted as I was with this installement.

Atkins set the table for new forces of evil down in Tibbehah in his last novel, The Sinners. They are gainning force in The Shameless and the level of corruption and malfaisance down in the deep-south reaches a new high this time.

This novel reads like a 3 hour long episode of Justified and will please anyone who is a fan of the series. Atkins is a modern western master that manage like a true artist the classic themes of the western genre but sets them in a sun scorched North Mississippi that seems to refuse the changes of the contemporary world. His body of work in the Colson series is a truly remarkable hommage to the true-grit of the past.

One of the best in the series. These Ranger books are fast-paced and full of interesting characters. Atkins keeps the pages turning with action and humor.

Ace Atkins writes some the best, voice-iest crime out there. (Quinn Colson is the heir apparent to Elmore's Raylan Givens). This installment is a must buy for collections where his previous titles were popular, and the series should be an investment for any collection with crime fans.