John Grisham, author of The Runaway Jury, is considered by many as the "king of the legal thriller" (Runaway). He brings a background to his writing that earns him this title honestly. Born February 8, 1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Grisham grew up with hopes of becoming a professional baseball player. Some time later he realized that he was not talented enough for the job, so he enrolled in college. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, he attended law school and in 1981, earned a law degree. He practiced law for nearly a decade, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. During this time, his interest turned to politics, and in 1983, he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives where he served two terms (John). While in office, Grisham began writing his first novel, A Time to Kill, which was published in 1989. With that book's success, he decided to give up his job as a politician to become a full-time novelist, publishing a book nearly every year from that time on. The Runaway Jury, his seventh book, was published in 1996 (Grisham). In all, Grisham has written fifteen books. Six of those books have been made into movies (Movies). Currently in production, "Runaway Jury" is expected to be released in 2003 (Yahoo). In 1996, Grisham returned to the courtroom one last time, this time to represent the family of a railroad brakeman who was killed when he was pinned between two of the railcars. This resulted .
in Grisham's biggest win to date with an award of $683,500 to his client (John). Even when Grisham is not writing, he is extremely busy. He divides his time between his family, charity work and refereeing on one of the six ball fields he built for the twenty-six Little League teams in his area. .
The Runaway Jury is the story of a tobacco trial set in Biloxi, Mississippi, and is loosely based upon a tobacco suit brought years earlier in Mississippi by the widow of a smoker (Kelly).