Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
By Tom Franklin

Adult New Fiction Franklin


I learned to spell Mississippi the way the title suggests, M, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, I, crooked letter, crooked letter I, humpback, humpback I. This is a stong mystery with a great sense of place, Southern rural Mississippi. You feel like you've been to this town on the
skids where people even have to go to get gas the next town over. Here two boys were friends in the eighties, one white, Leonard, and one black, Silas, but they had to keep their friendship hidden from Leonard's parents and Silas' mom who lived in a shack in the woods on Leonard's family's land.

Then one evening Leonard took Cindi on a date, at least that's what he thought he was doing. She'd asked him to take her to the drive-in, but she had other plans. She wanted to meet her secret boyfriend in the woods and for him to go on to the drive in. When he returned to pick her up, she was gone, and though Leonard was never accused, his already lonely life was made more miserable as everyone decided he was a rapist and murderer. Twenty-five years later Silas returns to town as the town constable and their paths and secrets cross again. Great characters and Southern dialogue, this is a book that you can't put down.