John Grisham's New Book Revisits Mississippi; The Land of Emmett Till

NEWS RELEASE

(Editor's Note: This is such good news for avid readers of John Grisham books. It will be hard to wait for this newest novel. Meanwhile, The Plan, is set for June release. More to come. sk)

MAY 3, 2013 12:00 PM

John Grisham set to release 'Sycamore Row,' sequel to 'A Time to Kill,' in October

BY ILIA BLINDERMAN

What Billy Mays did for OxiClean, John Grisham has been doing for the legal thriller since his first book, “A Time To Kill,” came out in 1988. It was therefore — to put it mildly —  kind of a big deal when Grisham’s publisher Knopf Doubleday announced that the former jurist would be publishing a sequel later this year.

Grisham, then a lawyer and member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, had witnessed the testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim a quarter-century ago; the shock spurred him to spend the next three years rising at 5 a.m. and working on the novel before work.

Although the book was initially rejected by numerous publishers (and first paled in comparison to his second release, “The Firm”), Grisham’s story of Jake Brigance — a white lawyer defending a black man charged with murdering his daughter’s rapists — was later adapted into the widely successful Joel Schumacher film starring Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock (fun fact: Grisham’s first-ever reading for “A Time To Kill” was in Oxford, Miss’ Square Books, which recently won the Publishers Weekly Bookstore of the Year award).

In Grisham’s latest, titled "Sycamore Row" and set for release on October 22, the author returns Brigance to his  “Time to Kill” stomping ground. The sequel, according to Grisham, “will have [Brigance fighting] for justice in a trial that could tear the small town of Clanton apart.”

Whoa, man..

New Book Announcement: The Plan: An eNovel

The Plan: A Historical eNovel By Susan Klopfer 

Set For June 2013 Release

From a church in the Mississippi Delta...

To Esmeraldas Ecuador

The Plot:

Jamie Sullivan, a private Vicksburg detective, fatally shoots himself in the groin while perched on the corner of his bed cleaning his favorite hunting rifle. Suicide, concludes the Mississippi state pathologist, a man nationally known for his amazingly quick (and frequently galling) reports. Sullivan’s death occurs six months after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and twenty-five years before Clint McDoo gives a damn. 

McDoo, a quiet, gay Delta civil rights lawyer, has never thought about the former FBI agent’s fishy death report until  now; he hated the man. But hearing of his Alabama colleague's sudden death, McDoo sets Delta speed records heading for Montgomery where his friend’s widow insists her husband killed himself, and will not let McDoo view the body. She demands a closed casket funeral, but McDoo, adept at quiet murder investigations from years of brave work in Mississippi, sneaks into the funeral parlor basement to find his friend’s tortured body. 

Not surprised at what he discovers, and figuring he could be the next target because they were co-investigating a colossal crime, McDoo flees to a quiet fishing town in Ecuador, a little known village with relevant African history, to spend out the rest of his life. He meets retired CIA expat, Barney Fry, who faces possible deportation over a CIA retirement office paperwork screw-up. The intrigued old spy fleshes out the lawyer’s story and comes up with an idea that just might save them both, and solve two murders!

ISBN: 978-0-9826049-7-7

Publication Date: June 30, 2013

Susan Klopfer is the author of The Emmett Till Book, Who Killed Emmett Till?, and Where Rebels Roost; Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited

Amazon author bio: http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Klopfer/e/B001K8H5WC