Yahoo Lifestyle How To Read John Grisham’s 56 Books in Order
Here’s how to read best-selling author John Grisham: all his books in order. Acclaimed writer John Grisham upends readers’ expectations again and again in his career. Here are his books in order, but don’t expect just one legal thriller after another. Grisham's formula–if any–is to never stick to a formula. You’ll find classic legal thrillers, but you’ll also find passionate nonfiction about the justice system, a coming of age tale, historical fiction, sports books set in the world of football and basketball and baseball, kid’s books and more.
Whether you love Tom Cruise in The Firm or Matthew McConaughey in A Time To Kill or Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington in The Pelican Brief or Matt Damon in The Rainmaker or Susan Sarandon in The Client or…well, as you can see, it’s almost certain you’ve seen and loved some of your favorite stars in a movie based on a John Grisham thriller. (By the way, why the heck hasn’t Hollywood made a new feature film based on a Grisham book in 20 years?)
Related: How "Baby Hitmen" Led To Jeffery Deaver's New Thriller
So isn’t it time you tackled his books? Some folks make it an annual tradition to read the latest Grisham, the same way they buy a new ugly sweater or return to that cabin by the lake every summer. Still, we’re pretty sure you haven’t read them all.
Don’t worry; we’ve got this. First I’ll give you every series featuring a recurring hero or setting, everyone from the Tom Cruise character in The Firm to Theodore Boone, the legal whiz kid Grisham created for his books geared to younger readers. Then we’ll give you everything in chronological order. So let’s get reading!
How To Read John Grisham: All His Books in Order
Jake Brigance Series in Order
Courtesy of Vintage
A Time To Kill by John Grisham
Sycamore Row by John Grisham
A Time For Mercy by John Grisham
Sparring Partners by John Grisham
It all began with Jake Brigance and A Time To Kill….but no one noticed. It wasn’t until John Grisham’s second novel The Firm caught fire two years later that his first book became a smash hit as well. A Time To Kill would become the fourth feature film based on one of his books and starred Matthew McConaughey as Jake.
Unlike many others, Grisham doesn’t rely on one character to anchor a franchise. But 24 years later, he would return to Jake Brigance with Sycamore Row in 2013 and then two more books, so far. That makes Jake Brigance his second most popular leading man, right after kid lawyer Theodore Boone. (More on the kid, later.)
Sparring Partners, by the way, is a collection of three novellas, only one of which features Brigance. The novellas feature Jake back in Ford County (the fictional setting for a number of Grisham books), a man on death row with one last request and a law firm disintegrating because the two brothers at its head despise each other.
A Time To Kill by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Sycamore Row by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
A Time For Mercy by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Sparring Partners by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Mitch McDeere Series in Order
Courtesy of Vintage
The Firm by John Grisham
The Exchange by John Grisham
The Firm was only John Grisham’s second novel, but it established him as a name brand author for the rest of his career. The book sold some 1.5 million copies before it was turned into a smash hit film starring Tom Cruise. Already one of the most bankable stars in the world, Cruise was perfect casting for the legal thriller. It’s success led to a constant stream of movies and later TV shows based on Grisham novels. The books remain consistent sellers, but the real mystery is why the film adaptations of his thrillers all but stopped 20 years ago. Proving he doesn’t need to cash in on a winning title, Grisham waited more than 30 years before writing another book about Mitch McDeere.
The Firm by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Exchange by John Grisham ($18; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
John Grisham Stand-alone Books
Courtesy of Vintage, Anchor
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
The Client by John Grisham
The Chamber by John Grisham
The Rainmaker by John Grisham
Here begins John Grisham’s great run of stand-alone thrillers. They often appear in October, dependable bestsellers and the perfect Christmas gift for fans in your life. They are the opposite of formulaic, with each book often tackling a different, unexpected aspect of the judicial system…or exposing yet another outrage that demands fixing.
The Rainmaker features lawyer Rudy Baylor (played by Matt Damon in the film version). Grisham said years later that Baylor was the one protagonist Grisham has created that he’d be, if he had to choose. Why? Because Baylor left the profession, just like Grisham!
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Client by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Chamber by John Grisham ($9.99; Anchor) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Rainmaker by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage, Dell
The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
The Partner by John Grisham
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
The Testament by John Grisham
Novel by novel, John Grisham dissects the legal system. The Runaway Jury has a blast imagining a tobacco trial with a rogue juror playing the long game against evil tobacco industry lawyers. The Partner a la The Firm deals with a member of a high-powered firm that’s defrauding the government…and him. The Street Lawyer shines a spotlight on those advocating for the homeless, the poor, the ignored. And The Testament is an adventure tale almost as much as a story about family members fighting to annul their wealthy father’s will.
The Runaway Jury by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Partner by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham ($7.99; Dell) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Testament by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage, Anchor
The Brethren by John Grisham
A Painted House by John Grisham
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
The Summons by John Grisham
The Brethren came out in 2000, a new millennium with John Grisham showing no signs of slowing down. It’s a story about shady former judges pulling off a cruel scam from inside prison.
Then, with his 12th book, Grisham wanted to stretch his muscles. A Painted House is set in 1952 Arkansas and inspired by his childhood. A work of literary fiction, it’s a coming of age story about a boy watching his family struggle to make a go of their cotton farm. (The boy also yearns to be a professional baseball player, just like Grisham did.)
Grisham enjoyed strong reviews and followed that with Skipping Christmas, a lark about a family that pisses off seemingly everyone in town when they try and skip the hubbub and annoyance of the holiday. It was less well reviewed, but still sold well and became the film Christmas With The Kranks, starring Tim Allen.
Before everyone could start freaking out, legal thriller Grisham returned with The Summons.
The Brethren by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
A Painted House by John Grisham ($18; Anchor) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham ($9.99; Anchor) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Summons by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage
The King of Torts by John Grisham
Bleachers by John Grisham
The Last Juror by John Grisham
The Broker by John Grisham
John Grisham would continue to take risks and stretch himself in the years to come. This next batch includes three more best-selling legal thrillers. But it also includes Bleachers, a novel about a legendary high school football coach who has died. The players gather to debate whether they loved or hated the man and his sometimes brutal methods.
The King of Torts by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Bleachers by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Last Juror by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Broker by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage, Anchor, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Playing For Pizza by John Grisham
The Appeal by John Grisham
The Associate by John Grisham
Ford County: Stories by John Grisham
A few more curveballs from John Grisham, who clearly keeps his legal thrillers in top form by talking detours into other genres more and more frequently. The Appeal and The Associate are the legal thrillers fans know and expect.
But real fans are starting to appreciate Grisham’s desire to stretch himself. Playing For Pizza finds a washed up NFL quarterback desperate for a new job signing with an Italian football team called the Parma Panthers. This is no Ted Lasso; they really do play American football. But this novel definitely offers the same combination of humor and heart.
Then Grisham enjoys some of the best reviews of his career with Ford County, a collection of short stories set in the fictional Ford County, the Mississippi setting for his debut novel A Time To Kill and a clutch of other books over the years.
Playing For Pizza by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Appeal by John Grisham ($9.99; Anchor) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Associate by John Grisham ($9.99; Anchor) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Ford County: Stories by John Grisham ($17; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage
The Confession by John Grisham
The Litigators by John Grisham
Calico Jack by John Grisham
The Racketeer by John Grisham
Three more legal thrillers and a real curveball for once.
The Confession revolves around the systemic racism of the legal system, in this case to devastating effects. The Litigators gives lawyers the delicious fable of taking on your old, high-powered law firm and cleaning their clock. The Racketeer shows a Black lawyer wrongly charged with racketeering, and yet still help the police catch a killer, go into the witness protection program to protect himself and then still have to go off the grid even further. No good deed goes unpunished.
And right in the middle of those thrillers is another sports novel. This time it’s Calico Jack, and finally it’s about baseball. Grisham himself dreamt of a pro career (just like the kid in A Painted House), supports Little League and local baseball wherever he lives and just generally loves the game. But he can still spot injustice anywhere and baseball is no exception. This time Grisham takes on head-hunting pitchers. I’m absolutely with him on that one; I find it despicable and dangerous and hate it even when my own team’s pitcher is settling a score. Nope. You can kill someone or at least end their career. That’s what happened to Grisham: reportedly at 19 he was in a game when a ball coming right at his head brushed him back, dangerously so. He quit that game and the sport right there and then.
The Confession by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Litigators by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Calico Jack by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Racketeer by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage
Gray Mountain by John Grisham
Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
The Rooster Bar by John Grisham
The Reckoning by John Grisham
Four more legal thrillers. Perhaps depressingly, John Grisham isn’t even coming close to running out of scandals and duplicity worth spotlighting.
Gray Mountain finds a lawyer talking on a coal company engaged in strip mining with no regard for the safety of workers. And The Rooster Bar tackles diploma mill colleges that engineer it so their students are forever mired in debt.
The other two books are intriguing detours yet again. Rogue Lawyer is more like a series of stories linked by its memorable lead character: a lawyer who operates out of a bulletproof van, taking on cases no one else will go near because the clients are so…sketchy. The reviews for this were very strong and it’s still waiting to become a tv series or something. And The Reckoning is a real eye-opener. It’s an historical novel that covers decades–including World War II–and yet also includes a murder mystery and courtroom drama, all rolled up into one.
Gray Mountain by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham ($9.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Rooster Bar by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Reckoning by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage, Anchor
The Guardians by John Grisham
Sooley by John Grisham
The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham
The Guardians is about wrongful convictions, a frighteningly common occurrence in the US legal system. It’s a passion for Grisham, who has long worked with the Innocence Project and other groups, while writing nonfiction throughout his career about this issue.
Sooley is another sports novel and since Grisham already tackled football and baseball, here he takes on basketball. The twist here: the star is a player from Sudan whose family is trapped by civil war. Sooley believes if he can succeed in college hoops as a freshman, he might be able to rescue his family.
The Boys From Biloxi features two childhood friends who follow different paths. One becomes a high powered attorney while the other works in the shady world of Biloxi nightlife. Inevitably they must face each other in the courtroom. In the old days, this would become a film with Spencer Tracy as the lawyer and James Cagney as the baddie.
The Guardians by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Sooley by John Grisham ($9.99; Anchor) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham ($18; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Nonfiction Books in Order
Courtesy of Vintage, Doubleday
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey
Writer and lawyer John Grisham has always been focused on justice. But not just in his legal thrillers, he’s often shone a spotlight on the vagaries of our legal system and sits on the board of the Innocence Project. These two nonfiction books demonstrate his long focus on the issue, with The Innocent Man out in 2006 and Framed out just this year.
The Innocent Man by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey ($30; Doubleday) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Theodore Boone Series in Order
Courtesy of Puffin Books
Courtesy of Puffin Books
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham Theodore Boone: The Accused by John Grisham Theodore Boone: The Activist by John Grisham Theodore Boone: The Fugitive by John Grisham Theodore Boone: The Scandal by John Grisham Theodore Boone: The Accomplice by John Grisham
John Grisham launched this series pitched to middle grade kids in 2010, joking that he needed to catch up with Harry Potter after that series became a worldwide phenomenon, eclipsing even his sales (and those of almost any other book or series in history).
Theodore Boone is a kid with two lawyers for parents. His dad is a real estate lawyer and his mom is a divorce lawyer. Theodore wants to be a lawyer himself some day (or maybe a judge) and the books find him helping out his classmates with their legal troubles.
This isn’t Encyclopedia Brown territory. In these books a friend is abducted, Theodore is framed for stealing, must go on the lam, fight a potentially rigged standardized testing system and more. Adults quickly realized these were pretty darn fun too. Pro tip: you really should read them in order or some storylines that extend over several books will be spoiled.
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham ($8.99; Puffin Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham ($8.99; Puffin Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Theodore Boone: The Accused by John Grisham ($9.99; Puffin Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Theodore Boone: The Activist by John Grisham ($8.99; Puffin Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Theodore Boone: The Fugitive by John Grisham ($8.99; Puffin Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Theodore Boone: The Scandal by John Grisham ($8.99; Puffin Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Theodore Boone: The Accomplice by John Grisham ($8.99; Puffin Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Whistler Series in Order
Courtesy of Vintage
The Whistler by John Grisham
The Judge’s List by John Grisham
John Grisham is often wary of leaning on a recurring character. But some people can’t be shaken so easily. Lawyer Lacy Stoltz works for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, which pretty much guarantees every judge will see you as the enemy, always.
In The Whistler, Stoltz takes on the troubled gaming industry taking place on tribal lands. Five years later, Grisham returned to Stoltz in The Judge’s List. This time, Stoltz reluctantly buys into a woman’s claim that a sitting judge is in fact a murderer.
The Whistler by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Judge’s List by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Camino Island Series in Order
Courtesy of Vintage, Doubleday
Camino Island by John Grisham
Camino Winds by John Grisham
Camino Ghosts by John Grisham
John Grisham pivots yet again in the Camino Island series, novels more like crime capers than his usual legal thrillers. Carl Hiassen would be comfortable vacationing there off the coast of Florida. One constant in the series is Bruce Cable, the owner of a bookstore on the island.
In the first book, he gets swept up in a heist of rare, antique books. In the second, a hurricane provides cover for the murder of a best-selling author of thrillers. But the cover won’t fool Cable, who was friends with the man and won’t rest just because the police are too busy with the storm’s aftermath. And in the third book Cable and an author team up to see justice done after the descendant of enslaved people is watching her family’s tiny barrier island called Dark Silver be snapped up by a rapacious developer.
Camino Island by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Camino Winds by John Grisham ($10.99; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Camino Ghosts by John Grisham ($29.95; Doubleday) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Emily Henry–How To Read All Her Books in Order
John Grisham Books in Order of Publication
A Time To Kill by John Grisham (1989)
The Firm by John Grisham (1991)
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (1992)
The Client by John Grisham (1993)
The Chamber by John Grisham (1994)
The Rainmaker by John Grisham (1995)
The Runaway Jury by John Grisham (1996)
The Partner by John Grisham (1997)
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham (1998)
The Testament by John Grisham (1999)
The Brethren by John Grisham (2000)
A Painted House by John Grisham (2001)
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (2001)
The Wavedancer Benefit by John Grisham et al (2002) *
The Summons by John Grisham (2002)
The King of Torts by John Grisham (2003)
Bleachers by John Grisham (2003)
The Last Juror by John Grisham (2004)
The Broker by John Grisham (2005)
The Innocent Man by John Grisham (2006)
Playing For Pizza by John Grisham (2007)
The Appeal by John Grisham (2008)
The Associate by John Grisham (2009)
Ford County: Stories by John Grisham (2009)
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham (2010)
Don’t Quit Your Day Job incl John Grisham (2010) **
The Confession by John Grisham (2010)
Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham (2011)
The Litigators by John Grisham (2011)
Calico Jack by John Grisham (2012)
Theodore Boone: The Accused by John Grisham (2012)
The Racketeer by John Grisham (2012)
Theodore Boone: The Activist by John Grisham (2013)
Sycamore Row by John Grisham (2013)
Gray Mountain by John Grisham (2014)
Theodore Boone: The Fugitive by John Grisham (2015)
Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham (2015)
The Tumor by John Grisham (2015) ***
Theodore Boone: The Scandal by John Grisham (2016)
The Whistler by John Grisham (2016)
Camino Island by John Grisham (2017)
The Rooster Bar by John Grisham (2017)
The Reckoning by John Grisham (2018)
Theodore Boone: The Accomplice by John Grisham (2019)
The Guardians by John Grisham (2019)
Camino Winds by John Grisham (2020)
A Time For Mercy by John Grisham (2020)
Sooley by John Grisham (2021)
The Judge’s List by John Grisham (2021)
Sparring Partners by John Grisham (2022)
The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham (2022)
The Exchange by John Grisham (2023)
Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel by John Grisham et al (2024) ****
Camino Ghosts by John Grisham (2024)
Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey (2024)
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster, MP Publishing, Focused Ultrasound Foundation, Harper
* The Wavedancer Benefit: A Tribute To Frank Muller by Stephen King, Pat Conroy, John Grisham and Peter Straub, ($20; Simon & Schuster) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble
** Don’t Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day Jobs They Quit edited by Sonny Brewer ($15.95; MP Publishing) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble
*** The Tumor by John Grisham (2015) out of print short piece (some customer reviews call it more of a brochure) promoting focused ultrasound as a treatment for tumors via a story about a man needing medical care.
**** Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel by the Authors Guild (featuring 30+ authors including John Grisham) ($32; Harper) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
