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A Novel
by John Grisham
John Grisham is the acclaimed master of the legal thriller. Now, he's back with his first-ever whodunit, even more suspenseful than his courtroom dramas, as a small-time lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name.
Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it.
Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn't commit: murder.
Simon knows he's innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer….
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/21/2026)
The Widow by John Grisham. I hadn't read a Grisham book in many years, so it was real joy to read his latest mystery centered on Simon Latch, a struggling small-town Virginia...
-Kristine_A
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/14/2026)
I just finished listening to The Widow by John Grisham and enjoyed it. Just started the Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett and it's 28 hours so could take awhile. For an ebook reading Atmosphere by Taylor...
-Melinda_J
"A captivating legal whodunit ... [Grisham's] nuanced portrait of Latch demonstrates his gift for constructing morally flawed yet sympathetic characters. The author's fans will be galvanized by this impressive return to form." —Publishers Weekly
"A classic, compulsive, taut and thrilling novel from one of the great storytellers of our time. The Widow is John Grisham at his irresistible, unforgettable best. No one does it better." —Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark
This information about The Widow was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and
a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball
player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted
gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After
graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for
nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal
injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives
and served until 1990.
One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, Grisham was inspired to start a novel. Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill
and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was
eventually bought by Wynwood ...
... Full Biography
Link to John Grisham's Website
Name Pronunciation
John Grisham: jon GRISH-uhm
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