Tag Archives: John Grisham

John Grisham’s The Widow

Posted on January 12, 2026 by smellincoffee

Simon Latch is a seasoned attorney in a dead marriage who struggles to make ends meet, even as he sleeps on a cot in his office. When an elderly woman approaches him for some estate work and mentions that she … Continue reading →

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Camino Ghosts

Posted on March 2, 2025 by smellincoffee

In The Guardians, readers were teased with a voodoo-cursed cabin that..ended up never being visiting again, causing me to wonder why on Earth it had been included to begin with. Camino Ghosts revisits not that cabin, but the general premise … Continue reading →

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The Exchange

Posted on January 9, 2024 by smellincoffee

Over twenty years ago I saw a fat paperback with an interesting cover depicting a businessman caught in strings above his head. That book, The Firm, was an absorbing thriller about a young lawyer who begins working at a boutique tax … Continue reading →

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Sparring Partners

Posted on June 4, 2023 by smellincoffee

John Grisham is the author of scores of novels of varying quality and two collections of short stories, if memory serves. Sparring Partners is a ‘novelty’, in that it collects three novellas, ranging in time from the 1980s to the … Continue reading →

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The Boys from Biloxi

Posted on March 20, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Boys from Biloxi© 2022 John Grisham453 pages Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco were among the best of friends,   who grew up playing ball and exploring the Gulf Coast together.  Third-generation immigrants,    they both admired their fathers intensely  … Continue reading →

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Of cyclists, colonial Catholics, and crappy endings

Posted on February 21, 2022 by smellincoffee

Last weekend I stayed at the Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, there to be evaluated for admission to their kidney transplant list. Much of my downtime was spent (how else) reading. How Cycling Can Save the World is a straightforward argument … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

The Judge’s List

Posted on January 13, 2022 by smellincoffee

In 2016, John Grisham introduced readers to the fictional Board of Judicial Conduct, a political organization in Florida providing oversight for Florida’s judges, fining them for showing up to work drunk or talking about current cases at Rotary Club meetings.  … Continue reading →

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Camino Winds | Jesus the Son of Man

Posted on March 3, 2021 by smellincoffee

Amid a category 4 hurricane that levels homes and floods an entire town, a man is murdered. The police shake their heads, insisting he was merely struck by storm debris. But falling limbs don’t leave blood splatter inside a home … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

A Time for Mercy

Posted on January 20, 2021 by smellincoffee

A Time for Mercy© 2020 John Grisham480 pages A woman lies beaten and unconscious in the kitchen; her children quiver in fear in a back room while the man they’re terrorized by lies in a drunken stupor in his bedroom. … Continue reading →

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Brains, cotton mills, and vanilla legal thrills

Posted on January 11, 2020 by smellincoffee

January is off to a solid reading start, largely because I’ve developed some ankle woes and my gym/hiking/cycling time has become extra reading time for three weeks running. I’m about to see an orthopedic specialist, though, so here’s hoping I … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments