The book was okay – but not one of my favorites.

Sometimes you come across a book that not only you enjoy, but one that really stays with you for a while. CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER is a wonderful, haunting, elegantly written novel about two boys who cross paths in rural Mississippi and how their lives connect back again as adults. The main character, 32 Jones, was a baseball star in high school but is now a local constable, at the bottom of the police ladder, directing traffic and writing parking tickets after being raised by a single mom who worked double shifts to keep the family afloat. Childhood friend Larry Ott grew up in a two-parent home, and now runs his father's auto repair shop, but lives a solitary existence after being the main suspect in the disappearance of a teen girl years ago that was never conclusively proven - he's lived under the shadow of that ever since. The two reconnect after another local girl goes missing, digging up loads of history and hidden connections between them as 32 gets drawn into the case. Franklin has an immaculate sense of place - rural Mississippi is a character unto itself, and Franklin creates characters and speech that feel genuine and real. Like I said, this book is one of those that sticks with you long after you put it back on the shelf, and is worth seeking out. If you're interested in other literary mystery novels with strong characters and an equally strong sense of place, check out THE NIGHT GARDENER by George Pelecanos or THE POACHER'S SON by Paul Doiron.

This is a being billed as a mystery, and if that gets people to read it, fantastic, because it is much more than that. Tom Franklin knows this slice of the rural South, its weaknesses and its grace, and he writes beautifully about the woods, the food, the auto repair shop no one patronizes, the police department with its token black officer. The book goes back and forth in time between a girl's disappearance when the main characters were in high school and a possibly related shooting in the present, a couple of decades later. His characterizations are pitch perfect, heartrending - the horror-fiction-obsessed nerd's disastrous first and only date, the star athlete's failure of courage. It is ultimately a meditation on race, ostracism, and friendship, and Franklin packs a lot of humanity into 300 pages.

This is one of the best novels I've read in some time. It's a crime novel, yes, but equally compelling is the story of the relationship between two men. Beautifully written, touching and suspenseful, with a strong sense of place (the Deep South). Highly recommended!

A very enjoyable and interesting story and characters, set in rural Mississipi.

Enjoyed this book so much, I've checked out Hell at the Breech.

This novel's two main characters are very well developed, and the story line is compelling. The sense of place is well portrayed - very small town Mississippi. The relationship between Larry and Silas is complex and touching. This would be a great summer weekend read.

Really great read. I couldn't put it down. It was a great mystery that makes you really care about the characters, and I couldn't wait to find out what had really happened.

Start with a complicated friendship between two young boys, a series of murders, some false accusations and a lifetime of secrets and you end up with a great little mystery. This story offers a couple of well formed characters, some suspense and just a touch creepy. Very good.

This book pulls the reader in, right from the beginning. The two main characters are compelling and real. Both are lonely, though in very different ways. Good writing that flows.