If you recall your young childhood when there might have been moments that you considered boring, and if you remember how little it took to take you off on "adventures", you may enjoy this book. At heart, it's a murder mystery. The book is so charmingly written, it's easy to find yourself right there in the story. Jake is sent to visit his two young cousins in the Mississippi Delta where the cotton fields need tending. Lucky for Jake, it's not picking time yet, but the boys do spend days in the fields hoeing.

The tiny town is a lazy place with only a picture show for entertainment and baseball on the radio. Of course, there are characters and as Jake finds, friends, the kind a boy never forgets. The story has the 3 young boys creating all the adventure they can in such a place in 1951.

A body has been found in the river, hooked by a fisherman and his son. Who is it and how did it get there? Suspicions abound. The story flows along in a lazy summer day kind of way, except for the hard work in the cotton fields, and the boys find fun when they can. Then POW! The reader won't see the twists in this book coming.

I loved this book and have passed it on to a family member to read. The author writes very well. It's a book a male reader would enjoy, partly for the details, as well as a female reader.

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I encourage ALL to read Mississippi Cotton, by Paul H. Yarbrough. This is not just a book you can read, but one you can hear: you can hear the author speaking to us, mind to mind, heart to heart. This book is mystifying and is written in a style that is distinctly Southern but one that readers anywhere can enjoy. While this novel is brimming with mystery and adventure, Mississippi Cotton also successfully captures that coveted "Southern charm". The author brings a heartwarming perspective to the old-vs.-new life in the South. The novel is heavy on nostalgia and the setting is where Yarbrough's roots are: Mississippi. I am confident that all who read Mississippi Cotton will enjoy it and be proud to have it on their bookshelf just as I do! ( )