Review
'Unforgettable characters populate Tom Franklin's latest crime novel, which is lyrical, wickedly funny and deeply satisfying. A superbly crafted and profoundly moving read; it might just be his best yet.' --culturecritic.co.uk
'Franklin has a superb ear for dialogue and a perfect sense of place... An absolutely brilliant novel.' --Reader's Digest
'This masterful crime novel is distinguished by its brilliant plotting and unforgettable characters' --Northants News
'Southern gothic is alive and well. Nothing's happened in Amos, Mississippi, since a teenage girl disappeared after a date with Larry Ott, some 20 years ago. He was never proved guilty. Decades later, it all turns ugly.' --The Mirror - 4 stars
'The perfect combination of beautiful prose and plot intrigue' --Esquire Esquire Esquire
'The characters jump off the page and into your thoughts.' --Prima magazine
'Think Cormac McCarthy with some light let in, or Annie Poulx.' --Transmitter magazine
'It is one of those stories that wraps you in its setting, ties you to its characters, and imprisons you until its end. One of the best books of the year, whatever else happens in the next 10 months.' --irresistibletargets and Crime Time blogs
'Both Larry and Silas are superbly drawn and fully fleshed characters, their personalities and conflict chthonic to rural Mississippi but luminously relevant, in Franklin's hands, to any locale on the planet... Factor in a mesmerising evocation of rural Mississippi, language of sinuous and shimmering elegance, and a finely tuned ear for the nuances of dialogue, and you have a novel that is an early contender for one of the great novels of the year.' --Declan Burke, Irish Times
`Larry and Silas, white and black, boyhood friends in rural Mississippi 30 years ago, are separated by an apparent crime that changes their lives. This beautifully crafted thriller has a powerful sense of time and place, and explores the nature of friendship and bigotry. One the year's finest novels.'
--Financial Times
'Franklin has a superb ear for dialogue and a perfect sense of place... An absolutely brilliant novel.' --Reader's Digest
'This masterful crime novel is distinguished by its brilliant plotting and unforgettable characters' --Northants News
'Southern gothic is alive and well. Nothing's happened in Amos, Mississippi, since a teenage girl disappeared after a date with Larry Ott, some 20 years ago. He was never proved guilty. Decades later, it all turns ugly.' --The Mirror - 4 stars
'The perfect combination of beautiful prose and plot intrigue' --Esquire Esquire Esquire
'The characters jump off the page and into your thoughts.' --Prima magazine
'Think Cormac McCarthy with some light let in, or Annie Poulx.' --Transmitter magazine
'It is one of those stories that wraps you in its setting, ties you to its characters, and imprisons you until its end. One of the best books of the year, whatever else happens in the next 10 months.' --irresistibletargets and Crime Time blogs
'Both Larry and Silas are superbly drawn and fully fleshed characters, their personalities and conflict chthonic to rural Mississippi but luminously relevant, in Franklin's hands, to any locale on the planet... Factor in a mesmerising evocation of rural Mississippi, language of sinuous and shimmering elegance, and a finely tuned ear for the nuances of dialogue, and you have a novel that is an early contender for one of the great novels of the year.' --Declan Burke, Irish Times
`Larry and Silas, white and black, boyhood friends in rural Mississippi 30 years ago, are separated by an apparent crime that changes their lives. This beautifully crafted thriller has a powerful sense of time and place, and explores the nature of friendship and bigotry. One the year's finest novels.'
--Financial Times
Product Description
Beautiful writing, a spot-on sense of place, wickedly funny dialogue, and an emotionally potent story charge this highly original, literary crime offering' GEORGE PELECANOS
Book Description
Amos, Mississippi, is a quiet town. Silas Jones is its sole law enforcement officer. The last excitement here was nearly twenty years ago, when a teenage girl disappeared on a date with Larry Ott, Silas's one-time boyhood friend. The law couldn't prove Larry guilty, but the whole town has shunned him ever since. Then the town's peace is shattered when someone tries to kill the reclusive Ott, another young woman goes missing, and the town's drug dealer is murdered. Woven through the tautly written murder story is the unspoken secret that hangs over the lives of two men - one black, one white. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is a masterful crime novel, sizzling with deep Southern menace, and distinguished by brilliant plotting and unforgettable characters.
About the Author
Winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Tom Franklin teaches in the University of Mississippi’s MFA programme and lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife, the poet Beth Ann Fennelly, and their children.
