Stuntman

"The Deep South’s true detective" - Men’s Journal

"Ace Atkins is the Southern Noir King" - Lisa Unger, the New York Times bestselling author of THE NEW COUPLE IN 5B

"Best Mystery Stories of the Year" selection

A new short story from the author of the award-winning, bestselling Quinn Colson series.

Trouble always seems to find Jason Colson. The retired Hollywood stuntman and father to a certain Army Ranger turned Mississippi sheriff, is doing his best to start over with a new life in Austin, Texas. Until mobster Bobby Delgado decides to come knocking for his ten thousand bucks on the day Colson is being honored for his work in such Hollywood classics as Smokey and the Bandit, Convoy, and White Lightning.

Colson is no stranger to conflict. After years splitting his time between stuntman stardom in Los Angeles and family life with his wife and two kids in Tibbehah County, Mississippi, Jason Colson disappeared from Quinn and Caddy's life with no explanation. After he reconnected with his adult children many years later, they discovered the reason: a vicious Mississippi motorcycle gang had wanted him dead. After a complicated reconciliation, Jason lights out for Austin, where he can still be a big man on the cult movie circuit. But he never can stay on the straight and narrow for long. He's not like his son Quinn.

On the day Delgado comes looking for his ten grand, Colson is set to give a talk, sign some memorabilia and shake a few hands at a bar in the Red River District. Even his own daughter Caddy, assisting her old man at the event, doesn't know that her father, with his bad back and two bum knees, might have to pull off the greatest stunt of his career: saving his own neck.

An exciting return to the Colson family from the undisputed master of Southern Noir, Ace Atkins