Sycamore Row

Just finished this latest book by John Grisham, and I enjoyed it. I haven't been a fan of many of his later books, but I guess I was in the mood for a good legal thriller. This one takes up with Jake Brigance, the lawyer we met in Grisham's first book, A Time to Kill, and in the same town of Clanton, Mississippi. The story takes place three years after the case that made Jake famous, but the controversial verdict has left him struggling and broke. This story begins when Seth Hubbard,  a wealthy and reclusive business man dying of lung cancer, hangs himself from a sycamore tree in Clanton, Mississippi.  He leaves a handwritten will leaving most of his fortune to his black housekeeper, Lettie,  and nothing to his two children. Before his death he mailed a letter to Jake, asking him to represent his wishes and to make sure that the will is honored. So begins the battle, in and out of the courtroom, as Jake and his colorful cast of legal characters try to unravel the mystery of Seth Hubbard. It's a good story, good characters, with lots of twists and turns in the story. You kind of know where it's going, but it's enjoyable getting there.