A Telling Tale: Murder, Suspense, and the Judicial System.

     A recent book I read was “The Last Juror” written by John Grisham.   John Grisham is a dynamic author, who has written many books based on various topics.  Before becoming a lawyer, John Grisham attended the Mississippi School of Law. Then, he practiced law for approximately ten years and after he retired from his profession he began writing books.  John Grisham has written several books and “The Last Juror” was his seventeenth book that was published.  For a complete list of John Grisham’s books see here, http://www.jgrisham.com/books/.  I feel everyone should take the time to read at least one book that John Grisham has written.

     First, the setting of this book takes place in the small town of Clanton, Mississippi, from the year 1970 through 1979. In this small town, the rape and murder of Rhoda Kasselaw occurs one night after she had returned home from the bar to attend to her two children. Such a crime was shocking in this town.  Police officers scrambled to undercover the truth about Rhoda’s murder. People within Clanton were outraged and wanted to catch the murderer.

     On the sunnier side of town, the local newspaper, The Ford County Times, had a new journalist from Syracuse, New York, Willie Traynor. He was the first to cover the murder. He interviewed the neighbors, the police officers, and anyone else that he thought might offer some insight to this horrible crime that had been committed. Soon after the news of the murder spread all over Clanton, the police came up with a suspect.

     Danny Padgitt, the main suspect, lived on the out skirts of Clanton with the rest of the Padgitt family.  He usually kept to himself and stayed on the island. Willie Traynor got wind that Danny Padgitt was the main suspect and published a front page story in The Ford Country Times. 

     Soon after Traynor’s story was published, the police began a formal investigation. Eventually a jury was hand-picked to determine the fate of Danny Padgitt.  Among these jurors was an African American lady, known as Mrs. Callie Ruffin. Traynor began visiting Mrs. Callie regularly to gain insight into the trial that was currently going on.  Traynor loved going to Mrs. Callie’s because she cooked the most delicious food in all of Clanton.  Traynor was starting to adapt to the small town life in Clanton, where murder was unusual and segregation was very common.

     In the events during the trial and the ones that followed a mysterious whirlwind unravels.  One by one, jurors started dying. The town was up in arms and did not know what would come next; many feared for their lives. This book illustrates how a terrifying event can happen and how the judicial system failed to work.  For a summary of “The Last Juror” visit the following website http://www.jgrisham.com/the-last-juror/.  I believe everyone should read this book. For a full review of “The Last Juror” see http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5346.The_Last_Juror.