I’ve loved many of John Grisham’s courtroom dramas, so I was delighted to hear he had a new one coming out. NetGalley, the author, and his publisher, Doubleday Books, allowed me to read it early for a fair review. It comes out on October 21.

The Widow is a story of greed and murder. However, like Grisham’s other mysteries, it isn’t simply that black and white. Is the main character—a lawyer—a sleezy, small town, greedy character, or does he have redeeming qualities? Or both? I’ll leave it to other readers to judge.

The first half of the book is slow, but Grisham uses it to set up the situation. Simon Latch is a rural Virginia lawyer with a failing marriage, financially poor practice, and a penchant for gambling. In short, money is on his mind day and night. He specializes in $250 wills typed up quickly by his secretary. One day, into his office comes Eleanor Barnett, a widow who wants a new will for herself. As Simon questions her, he suspects she is sitting on a pile of money from her dead husband, and no one knows it but Simon and an earlier lawyer who drew up her previous will.

Simon sure could use her money, and as her lawyer he writes a will that will keep him financially solvent for a long time. But there’s one problem: he is never able to discover exactly what her financial situation is. Where is all this money she claims to have?

Enter other sleezy characters, including shirttail relatives, who are also after her money. When the widow has a terrible car accident, she ends up in the hospital. Simon continues to show up, shmooze her, and stand in waiting. She dies. But not in the way you’d expect, and Simon is accused of murder based on believable, but circumstantial, evidence.

And this is where it gets really dicey.

Simon can see his wealthy future, his practice, and his wife and children slipping away if he’s convicted and goes to prison for murder. No more dreams of expensive vacations. The lives of his children will be ruined. He’ll be disbarred. How will Grisham get him out of this predicament?

Twists and turns abound, and while the pacing of the set-up is slow, stick with it because Grisham’s genius really goes to work once Simon is charged with murder.