Ace Atkins Books in Order – Complete List

The New York Times bestselling author Ace Atkins is best known for the Robert Parker’ Spenser series which he continued after Robert B. Parker died, however, he has also written a popular mystery series about Quinn Colson, an army ranger returning home from Afghanistan, who is now living in rural northeast Mississippi and is fighting corruption at home.

In addition, he also created a shorter series about Nick Travers, an ex-football star, who is now a part-time detective in New Orleans, Louisiana. This series has only four books and a short novella, with an even shorter story published in 2025.

Here are the Ace Atkins books in order for his own solo series and for the books which he has continued the original Spenser series by Robert B. Parker, as well as his standalone books.

New Ace Atkins Books

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Nick Travers Books in Publication Order

1. Crossroad Blues, 1998
2. Leavin’ Trunk Blues, 2000
3. The Dark End of the Street, 2002
4. Dirty South, 2004
5. Last Fair Deal Gone Down (#4.5), 2012
6. From Four Til Late, 2025 (short story)

Quinn Colson Books in Publication Order

1. The Ranger, 2011
2. The Lost Ones, 2012
3. The Broken Places, 2012
4. The Forsaken, 2014
5. The Redeemers, 2015
6. The Innocents, 2016
7. The Fallen, 2017
8. The Sinners, 2018
9. The Shameless, 2019
10. The Revelators, 2020
11. The Heathens, 2021
12. Kudzu, 2025 (short story)
13. Stuntman, 2025 (a Jason Colson short story)

Spenser Books in Publication Order

Here are the Spenser books in order for the novels Ace Atkins has written. 

1. Lullaby (#40), 2012
2. Wonderland (#41), 2013
3. Cheap Shot (#42), 2014
4. Kickback (#43), 2015
5. Slow Burn (#44), 2016
6. Little White Lies (#45), 2017
7. Old Black Magic (#46), 2018
8. Angel Eyes (#47), 2019
9. Someone to Watch Over Me (#48), 2021
10. Bye Bye Baby (#49), 2022

Standalone Novels in Publication Order

• White Shadow, 2006
• Wicked City, 2008
• Devil’s Garden, 2009
• Infamous, 2010
• Everybody Wants to Rule the World, 2025

Novellas / Short Stories

• The Havana Run, 2024 (an Amazon Original Story)

Anthologies in Publication Order

• Live Noir or Die Trying, 2010 (Damn Near Dead #2)
• Crimespree Magazine #42, 2015
• New Orleans Noir, 2012 (Akashik Noir)
• Crimespree Magazine #60, 2015
• New Orleans Noir 2, 2016 (Akashik Noir)
• Mississippi Noir, 2016 (Akashik Noir)
• The Highway Kind: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads, 2016
• Mojo Rising 2, 2017
• Crimespree Magazine #66, 2017
• Mystery Writers of America Presents: Odd Partners, 2019
• Tampa Bay Noir, 2020 (Akashik Noir)
• Birds of Prey: The Harlan Coben Challenge, 2022 (with Harlan Coben)
• Best Crime Stories of the Year 4, 2024

Non-Fiction Books

• Sunset Park, 2025

Ace Atkins Biography

Ace Atkins was born in 1970 in Troy, Alabama. He discovered his love for books while attending the Auburn High School, where he always read everything but the material he should have read.

He received a football scholarship for college where he majored in screenplay writing at the Auburn University. Already then he knew that he wanted to become an author, so he decided to start working as a journalist to learn the art and craft of writing.

Between 1996 and 2001 he worked at the Tampa Tribune where he covered cases as a crime reporter. During this time, he earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Also during this time, he wrote his first two novels, Crossroad Blues and Leavin’ Trunk Blues, both which became part of the Nick Travers series. His first novel, Crossroad Blues was published when he was 27.

Based on his extensive experience as a journalist at the Tampa Tribune, he wrote a feature series based on his investigation into an unsolved, forgotten murder in 1955 of the crime boss Charlie Wall of Tampa. This was the core of his novel White Shadow (which was his first standalone story). The criminal’s nickname was White Shadow, which the book title captured. The book starts with Wall’s murder as an old man.

It was so popular that it earned raves from noted authors and critics, calling him one of the best crime writers of the times. Of course by this time he became a full-time novelist.

In addition to writing books, Ace Atkins is also still working as a reporter. For example, he covered for the magazine Outside the devastating Hurricane Katrina.

In 2016 he also ventured into writing comic books based on his Nick Travers series.

His books were was nominated for the Gumshoe Award in 2004 and the Barry Award in 2007.

In 2011, the estate of Robert B. Parker chose Ace Atkins to continue the Robert B. Parker Spenser series, for which he now wrote seven books all in Parker’s known writing style.

Little White Lies, published in 2017, starts with Connie Kelly who met the seemingly perfect guy, M. Brooks Welles, on an online dating site. In her naivete, she wrote him a check for close to$300,000 for him to invest on her behalf, and it came to no surprise to anyone when both the guy and her money was gone.

This is when Spenser comes into play investigating the guy and realizing that everything about him, including the name, is fake. The trail leads him and his friend Hawk from Boston to the backroads of Georgia, where danger and treacherous deception awaits.

The book is very loosely based on Wayne Simmons, an ex-FOX News pundit’s phony CIA claims that the author covered during his time as a journalist. Little White Lies is the first Spenser book where the cop has to go against a con man of this type.

A new Ace Atkins Spenser novel was published in 2019 with the title The Shameless in the Quinn Colson series.

The Ace Atkins Quinn Colson books are in development for a major television series. The Ranger is optioned for film by director/producer Jeremiah Chechik, for which the author is now polishing up the script.

Currently, the author lives on a historic farm outside Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and young son. In an interview, he mentioned that the reason why he moved from Alabama to Mississippi was that his books are all set in Mississippi, and he loves the rich culture of the state.

When not writing books, the author also teaches Journalism at the University of Mississippi. He is no longer working as a reporter, however, when a story is too good to pass up, he does write a story every now and then for the Outside magazine.

What is the latest Ace Atkins Book?

The latest Ace Atkins novel has a very long and interesting title, namely Everybody Wants to Rule the World: A Hilarious Cold War Thriller of Unlikely Heroes, Russian Spies, and High School Drama in the Heart of 1980s Suburban America. It is published in December 2025 as a standalone humorous Cold War-era thriller set in 1985 Atlanta.

Ace Atkins Books Adaptations

Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland has been adapted into a Netflix feature film titled Spenser Confidential in 2020, featuring Mark Wahlberg as Spenser, and also Alan Arkin, and Winston Duke as co-stars.

The Quinn Colson series, featuring the former Army Ranger turned sheriff in Mississippi, has been in development as a TV series by HBO. Ace Atkins will also be involved in the production of the series. Sadly the last news about this was in 2020, so we’re still waiting.

Ace Atkins Awards and Nominations

• White Shadow was nominated for the Barry Award for Best Novel in 2007
• Last Fair Deal Gone Down was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Short Story in 2010
• Last Fair Deal Gone Down was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Short Story in 2010
• Last Fair Deal Gone Down was nominated for the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Short Story in 2010
• The Ranger was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2012
• The Lost Ones was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2013
• Lullaby was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel in 2013