Ray Atlee is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. He's forty-three, newly single, and still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. He has a younger brother, Forrest, who redefines the notion of a family's black sheep. And he has a father, a very sick old man who lives alone in the ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi. He is known to all as Judge Atlee, a beloved and powerful official who has towered over local law and politics for forty years. No longer on the bench, the Judge has withdrawn to the Atlee mansion and become a recluse. With the end in sight, Judge Atlee issues a summons for both sons to return home to Clanton, to discuss the details of his estate. It is typed by the Judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for Ray and Forrest to appear in his study. Ray reluctantly heads south, to his hometown, to the place where he grew up, which he prefers now to avoid. But the family meeting does not take place. The Judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret known only to Ray. And perhaps someone else.
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"Good, I suspected the brother, since he was the only one not eliminated in the 'investigation' good book overall, could use a postscript timed a year later describing what happens with the brother and the money "
— Craig (4 out of 5 stars)
" Awesome book love this author. Never expected the ending but it only makes sense. Now time for another..... "
— Paulyh, 2/2/2020" Kept my interest and kept me awake driving back and forth to work. "
— Summers, 12/18/2008John Grisham is the author of more than thirty-five novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and seven novels for young readers. Thirty-three of his crime thrillers have made the #1 spot on the New York Times bestsellers list
Michael Beck is an American actor and audiobook narrator. He is best known for his role in the 1979 film The Warriors. He has narrated numerous novels by John Grisham, as well as Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz and My Life by Bill Clinton. He lives in California.