A Time for Mercy & A Song for the Dark Times
Presented in partnership with the Virginia Festival of the Book, authors John Grisham and Ian Rankin discuss their new books, revisiting long-time characters, writing crime novels, and frankly, anything else they’d like to discuss.
About A Time for Mercy: Jake Brigance is back! The hero of A Time to Kill, one of the most popular novels of our time, returns in a courtroom drama that The New York Times says is "riveting" and "suspenseful." Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye. Jake’s fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security, and the safety of his family on the line. In what may be the most personal and accomplished legal thriller of John Grisham’s storied career, we deepen our acquaintance with the iconic Southern town of Clanton and the vivid cast of characters that so many readers know and cherish. The result is a richly rewarding novel that is both timely and timeless, full of wit, drama, and—most of all—heart. Bursting with all the courthouse scheming, small-town intrigue, and stunning plot twists that have become the hallmarks of the master of the legal thriller, A Time for Mercy is John Grisham’s most powerful courtroom drama yet. There is a time to kill and a time for justice. Now comes A Time for Mercy.
About A Song for the Dark Times: A thrilling new Rebus novel about crime, punishment, and redemption, from the Edgar Award-winning "genius" of the genre. When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days. Rebus fears the worst – and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect. He wasn’t the best father – the job always came first – but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective? As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast – and a small town with big secrets – he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn’t want to find…
John Grisham
John Grisham is the author of thirty-five novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and six novels for young readers. He is a longtime member of the Board of Directors for the Innocence Project.
Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin, author of A Song for the Dark Times and dozens of other bestselling novels in the John Rebus series and others, has received the Chandler-Fulbright Award; four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, including the prestigious Diamond Dagger; the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award; Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz prize; the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir; and Germany’s Deutscher Krimipreis. Rankin has received an OBE for services to literature, in addition to a number of honorary university degrees.