Mississippi Library Association

Master of the Delta

Cook, Thomas H. Master of the Delta.
Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books, 2008.
367 pp. $24.00 (hardcover)

The time is the mid-1950s in the Mississippi Delta where old plantation homes and cotton fields haunt the landscape. Jack Branch, a history teacher and son of an old plantation family, has returned to Lake- land to teach in the local high school as his father did before him. In addition to his history classes, Jack teaches a special course on historical evil to senior high students from poor working class families from the community. When the class is assigned to write a paper about an evil character, one student asks to write about his father, a confessed murderer. Eddie Miller, the son of the Coed Killer, as he was known, is a quiet young man who lives with the cloud of his father’s misdeed hanging over his head. Eddie’s early success interviewing people who knew his father gives him the confidence to interview members of the old plantation class – including Jack’s own ailing father, master of Great Oaks.
As the research paper takes form, the interviews, clippings, and photographs also reveal facts that disturb Jack Branch and the security he has assumed as his birthright as the son of Great Oaks. The story is narrated by Jack in that slow, polite manner of the Delta, as he looks back to his own past to make sense of the events of the present as they unfold; as he reads passages from Eddie’s research paper and recalls excerpts from the trial, the reader is forewarned of an unhappy ending that keeps the story engaging.
Thomas H. Cook, born in Alabama and living in New York, has written numerous mystery novels, is an award-winning author, and has been an editor of Best American Crime Writing since 2000. This most recent novel of suspense would be an excellent addition to public libraries, particularly those with readers familiar with the Delta landscapes and the people that live there.

Ann Branton
Head, Bibliographic Services
University of Southern Mississippi

Entry Filed under: Book Reviews
Posted on: October 1st, 2008