5 of 5 stars  *****

Superb writing and excellent narration, The Little Friend is a long but enjoyable novel that involves the death of an adolescent and a mystery that ensues delighting the reader with every character introduction, descriptive presentation of the location and scenery, and the dialect of the region that is ripe with voice inflections separating each character from one another. The author's talent takes one away to Mississippi with all of its bug infested, humid, mucky weather and unique class of people who interact with a rapport appropriate for the time. The ending surprises this reader who yearns to discover what becomes of the characters as they mature.