Atkins worked[when?] as a crime reporter in the newsroom of The Tampa Tribune before he published his first novel, Crossroad Blues (1998).[citation needed] While at the Tribune, Atkins earned a
Pulitzer Prize nomination for a feature series based on his investigation into a forgotten murder of the 1950s.[5] The story became the core of his critically acclaimed novel, White Shadow, which was commented on positively by noted authors and
critics. In his next novels, Wicked City and Devil's Garden, Atkins continued this kind of story-telling, a style that was compared to that of
Dennis Lehane and
George Pelecanos.[5]
White Shadow (2006), Wicked City (2008), and Devil's Garden (2009) are personal books for Atkins, all set in his former homes:
San Francisco, where he lived as a child;
Alabama, his family's home and where he was born and went to college; and
Tampa, where he embarked on his career as a writer. Each novel contains bits of himself – friends and colleagues he once knew, people he respected or admired, family members, and personal heroes.
In 2011, Atkins was selected by the estate of
Robert B. Parker to take over writing the
Spenser series of novels.[6]The Boston Globe wrote that while some people might have "viewed the move as unseemly, those people didn't know Robert B. Parker, a man who, when asked how his books would be viewed in 50 years, replied: 'Don't know, don't care.' He was proud of his work, but he mainly saw writing as a means of providing a comfortable life for his family."[7]
Personal life
In a 2023 interview for
CrimeReads,
Atkins said he’s been living for the past twenty years on a historic farm outside
Oxford, Mississippi with his family.[4][8]