John Ray Grisham (born February 8, 1955) is an American former politician, retired attorney and novelist best known for his works of modern legal drama.
Easton Press John Grisham books
The Firm - signed modern classic - 2019
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Author John Grisham
John Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Southern Baptist parents of modest means. His father worked as a construction worker and a cotton farmer; his mother was a homemaker. After moving frequently, the family settled in 1967 in the town of Southaven in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where Grisham graduated from Southaven High School. He played as a quarterback for the school football team. Unlike the main character in his 2003 novel, Bleachers, he wasn't an All-American football player. Encouraged by his mother, the young Grisham was an avid reader, and was especially influenced by the work of John Steinbeck whose clarity he admired.
In 1977 Grisham received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Mississippi State University. While studying at MSU, the author began to keep a journal, a practice that would later assist in his creative endeavors. Grisham tried out for the baseball team at Delta State University, but was cut by the coach, who was the former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dave Ferriss. He earned his J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. During law school Grisham switched interests from tax law to criminal and general civil litigation. Upon graduation he entered a small-town general law practice for nearly a decade in Southaven, where he focused on criminal law and civil law representing a broad spectrum of clients. As a young attorney he spent much of his time in court proceedings.
In 1983 he was elected as a Democrat to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served until 1990. During his time as a legislator, he continued his private law practice in Southaven. He has donated over $100,000 to Democratic Party candidates. In September 2007 Grisham appeared with Hillary Rodham Clinton, his choice for U.S. President in 2008, and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, whom Grisham supports for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican John Warner (no relation). Grisham himself had considered challenging former GOP U.S. Senator George Allen, Jr. in the 2006 election in which Allen was narrowly defeated by the Democrat James Webb.
Writing
In 1984 at the De Soto County courthouse in Hernando, Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. Grisham used his spare time to begin work on his first novel, which explored what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. He spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it [the manuscript] was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000-copy printing and published it in June 1988."
The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a young attorney "lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared." That second book, The Firm, became the 7th bestselling novel of 1991. Grisham then went on to produce at least one work a year, most of them widely popular bestsellers. He is the only person to author a number-one bestselling novel of the year for seven consecutive years (1994–2000).
Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural south, while continuing to pen his legal thrillers.
Publishers Weekly declared Grisham "the bestselling novelist of the 90s", selling a total of 60,742,289 copies. He is also one of only a few authors to sell two million copies on a first printing; others include Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling. Grisham's 1992 novel The Pelican Brief sold 11,232,480 copies in the United States alone.
Courtroom re-appearance
Grisham returned briefly to the courtroom in 1996 after a five-year hiatus. According to his official website, he "was honoring a commitment he made before he had retired from the law...representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars...Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500 — the biggest verdict of his career." Another tie to the legal community that he continues to hold is his seat on the Board of Directors for the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating the innocent through DNA testing after they have been convicted.
The Firm - The Firm Series Book 1
At the top of his class at Harvard Law, Mitch McDeere had his choice of the best firms in America. He made a deadly mistake.
Mitchell
Y. McDeere has worked hard to get where he is: third in his class at
Harvard Law. Aggressively recruited by all the top firms, and initially
headed for Wall Street, Mitch surprises everyone by joining Bendini,
Lambert £r Locke, a very private, very rich tax firm in Memphis. Mitch
and his wife Abby move to Tennessee and quickly settle into their new
life: they're young, happy, and on the fast track. Or so they think.
When
Mitch McDeere signed on with Bendini, Lambert & Locke of Memphis,
he thought he and his beautiful wife, Abby, were on their way. The firm
leased him a BMW, paid off his school loans, arranged a mortgage and
hired him a decorator. Mitch McDeere should have remembered what his
brother Ray doing fifteen years in a Tennessee jail already knew. You
never get nothing for nothing. Now the FBI has the lowdown on Mitch’s
firm and needs his help. Mitch is caught between a rock and a hard
place, with no choice if he wants to live.
For a young lawyer on
the make, it was an offer Mitch McDeere couldn’t pass up with a
position at a law firm where the bucks, billable hours, and benefits are
over the top. It’s a dream job for an up and comer if he can overlook
the uneasy feeling he gets at the office. Then an FBI investigation into
the firm’s connections to the Mafia plunges the straight and narrow
attorney into a nightmare of terror and intrigue. With no choice but to
pit his wits, ethics, and legal skills against the firm’s deadly secrets
if he hopes to stay alive…
Mitch soon realises that he's working
for the Mafia's law firm, and there's no way out because you don't want
this company's severance package.
To survive, he'll have to play
both sides against each other and navigate a vast criminal conspiracy
that goes higher than he ever imagined...
It was his dream job but it was to become his worst nightmare.
John Grisham books in order
A Time to Kill (1989)The Firm (1991)
The Pelican Brief (1992)
The Client (1993)
The Chamber (1994)
The Rainmaker (1995)
The Runaway Jury (1996)
The Partner (1997)
The Street Lawyer (1998)
The Testament (1999)
The Brethren (2000)
A Painted House (2001)
Skipping Christmas (2001)
The Summons (2002)
The King of Torts (2003)
Bleachers (2003)
The Last Juror (2004)
The Broker (2005)
Playing for Pizza (2007)
The Appeal (2008)
The Associate (2009)
The Confession (2010)
The Litigators (2011)
Calico Joe (2012)
The Racketeer (2012)
Sycamore Row (2013)
Gray Mountain (2014)
Rogue Lawyer (2015)
Partners (2016), short story
The Whistler (2016)
Witness to a Trial (2016), short story
The Tumor (2016), short story
Camino Island (2017)
The Rooster Bar (2017)
The Reckoning (2018)
The Guardians (2019)
A Time for Mercy (2020)
Camino Winds (2020)
The Judge's List (2021)
Sooley (2021)
The Boys from Biloxi (2022)
Homecoming (2022), novella
The Exchange (2023)
Camino Ghosts (2024)
The Widow (2025)
Young adult novels
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (2010)Theodore Boone: The Abduction (2011)
Theodore Boone: The Accused (2012)
Theodore Boone: The Activist (2013)
Theodore Boone: The Fugitive (2015)
Theodore Boone: The Scandal (2016)
Theodore Boone: The Accomplice (2019)
Short story collections
Ford County (2009), collection of seven short stories:Blood Drive, Fetching Raymond, Fish Files, Casino, Michael's Room, Quiet Haven, and Funny Boy
Sparring Partners (2022), collection of three novellas:
Homecoming, Strawberry Moon, and Sparring Partners
Non-fiction
The Wavedancer Benefit: A Tribute to Frank Muller (2002) — with Pat Conroy, Stephen King, and Peter StraubThe Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (2006) — story of Ronald "Ron" Keith Williamson
Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day Jobs They Quit (2010) — with various authors
Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions (2024) - with Jim McCloskey