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James Grippando

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James Grippando

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Born
The United States
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February 2012


The first thing you should know about bestselling author James Grippando is that he is no longer clueless—or so they say, after “A James Grippando Novel” was a clue for #38 Across in the New York Times crossword puzzle. James is the winner of the Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction and a New York Times bestselling author with more than 30 novels to his credit, including the popular series featuring Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck. His latest, "Goodbye Girl" (HarperCollins 2024), is the 18th in the Swyteck series. His novels are enjoyed worldwide in 28 languages. As an adjunct professor he teaches "The Law & Lawyers in Modern Literature" at the University of Miami School of Law. He is also counsel at one of the nation’s leading ...more

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James Grippando I would encourage anyone who loves to write to give it a try. But you have to go in with your eyes open and realize that to make a career out of writi…moreI would encourage anyone who loves to write to give it a try. But you have to go in with your eyes open and realize that to make a career out of writing it does take some luck. People tell me that I have talent, and I know I work hard. But so do a lot of aspiring writers. The difference between them and me is that I found my first break. My advice to them is to keep looking. So maybe it’s luck and perseverance.
The first question you should ask yourself is “why do I write?” For some people the answer is “because I have to.” That’s fine. For me, the answer is “I love it.” At age eleven I wrote a comedy western and put my friends in it so they would sit and listen to me read it to them. In high school and college I was the guy who actually looked for courses that required you to write a paper. As a lawyer I published in more academic journals than most tenured law professors. I keep an “idea file” in my closet, and I’ll never live long enough to write all the stories I want to write. It blows my mind that I actually get paid to do this. Truly. But my point is this: until you understand why you write, you’ll have a hard time figuring out who you are as a writer. (less)
James Grippando Sometimes an idea percolates in your head for years. Sometimes, the inspiration hits like a lightenng bolt.
When I first starting writing, I was worki…more
Sometimes an idea percolates in your head for years. Sometimes, the inspiration hits like a lightenng bolt.
When I first starting writing, I was working 50-60 hour weeks in a big law firm, secretly writing a novel nights and weekends. And, I had my share of disappointment along the road to success. After four years of writing, not a single publisher wanted my first manuscript. But my agent believed in that book. "Jim," he said, "you got the most encouraging rejection letters I've ever seen." It sounds goofy, but what else can you say to an author who's taken his best shot and landed face down on the floor? Artie the optimist, I called him. With Artie’s encouragement, I decided to try again, but I was having trouble coming up with another idea.
Then one night in October 1992, tired of staring at a blank computer screen, I went for a walk before going to bed. I got about three blocks from my house when, seemingly out of nowhere, a police car pulled up onto the grassy part of the curb in front of me. A cop jumped out and demanded to know where I was going. I told him that I was just out for a walk, that I lived in the neighborhood. He didn't seem to believe me. "There's been a report of a peeping tom," he said. "I need to check this out." I stood helplessly beside the squad car and listened as the officer called in on his radio for a description of the prowler. "Under six feet tall," I heard the dispatcher say, "early to mid-thirties, brown hair, brown eyes, wearing blue shorts and a white t shirt." I panicked inside. I was completely innocent, but it was exactly me! "And a mustache," the dispatcher finally added. I sighed with relief. I had no mustache. The cop let me go. But as I walked home, I could only think of how close I'd come to disaster. Even though I was innocent, my arrest would have been a media event, and forever I would have been labeled as "the peeping tom lawyer.”
It was almost 2 a.m. by the time I returned home, but I decided that I needed to write about this. I took the feeling of being wrongly accused to the most dramatic extreme I could think of. I wrote about a man hours away from execution for a crime he may not have committed. What I wrote that night became the opening scene of The Pardon. I finished the manuscript in seven months, and it is now available all over the world in 28 languages.
That's a long-winded way of saying that inspiration can come from anywhere. Take a walk. Maybe you'll get hit by lightening.
(less)
Average rating: 3.93 · 84,044 ratings · 6,830 reviews · 52 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Pardon (Jack Swyteck, #1)

3.84 avg rating — 4,875 ratings — published 1994 — 2 editions
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Gone Again (Jack Swyteck, #12)

4.05 avg rating — 4,255 ratings — published 2016 — 15 editions
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Twenty (Jack Swyteck, #17)

4.20 avg rating — 3,947 ratings — published 2021 — 11 editions
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Most Dangerous Place (Jack ...

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,361 ratings — published 2017 — 16 editions
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Beyond Suspicion (Jack Swyt...

3.87 avg rating — 3,360 ratings — published 2002 — 40 editions
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A Death in Live Oak (Jack S...

4.18 avg rating — 3,095 ratings — published 2018 — 10 editions
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Last To Die (Jack Swyteck, #3)

4.04 avg rating — 3,188 ratings — published 2003 — 45 editions
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Blood Money (Jack Swyteck, ...

3.96 avg rating — 2,897 ratings — published 2013 — 18 editions
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When Darkness Falls (Jack S...

3.93 avg rating — 2,916 ratings — published 2007 — 36 editions
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Goodbye Girl (Jack Swyteck ...

3.87 avg rating — 2,893 ratings — published 2024 — 8 editions
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WATSON GIVEAWAY - FREE eBOOK!





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Watson by James Grippando




Watson


by James Grippando




Giveaway ends March 30, 2023.



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Published on March 01, 2023 08:37 Tags: giveaway-bookgiveawayalert
The Pardon Beyond Suspicion Last To Die Hear No Evil Got The Look When Darkness Falls Last Call
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James’s Recent Updates

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Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
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Goodbye Girl by James Grippando
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Betty
Betty is on page 182 of 341 of Head Cases
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Quotes by James Grippando  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“There are only two types of people who can be totally honest with each other, lovers and strangers. Everyone else is just negotiating.”
James Grippando

“The NRA was laying down its weapons. Yankee fans were rooting for the Boston Red Sox. The French were eating English food and loving it. Matthew was sure all those things were happening.... This was the proverbial cold day in hell, and Matthew was living it.”
James Grippando, A King's Ransom

“you love’?” “No”
James Grippando, Blood Money

Polls

What should our "Moderator recommends" book be for September 2026?

Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1) by Robert McCammon
Speaks the Nightbird
Robert McCammon

The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe a witch has cursed their town with inexplicable tragedies, and they demand that beautiful widow Rachel Howarth be tried and executed for witchcraft. Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew Corbett. Believing in Rachel's innocence, Matthew will soon confront the true evil at work in Fount Royal.

After hearing damning testimony, magistrate Woodward sentences the accused witch to death by burning. Desperate to exonerate the woman he has come to love, Matthew begins his own investigation among the townspeople. Piecing together the truth, he has no choice but to vanquish a force more malevolent than witchcraft in order to save his beloved Rachel and free Fount Royal from the menace claiming innocent lives.
 
  7 votes 36.8%

Under Cover Of Darkness by James Grippando
Under Cover Of Darkness
James Grippando

The youngest lawyer ever to grab the helm of Seattle's most prominent law firm, Gus Wheatley has found success–as well at money, power, and prestige. He thinks nothing can interfere with his meteoric rise to the top. Until his wife, Beth, vanishes.

Beth's disappearance coincides with a series of brutal murders the FBI dubs the "bookend killings." They think Beth isthe killer's latest victim... or his willing accomplice. But Gus knows his wife would never ally herself with a cold–blooded killer. The further he searches, however, the more he discovers that Beth isn't the woman he thought he knew.

Beth may be alive. She may or may not be innocent. She may have come up against evil far more reaching than a serial killer. And for Gus and his family, that evil is much too close to home.
 
  7 votes 36.8%

Slow Gods by Claire North
Slow Gods
Claire North

My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself.

Slow Gods is the galaxy-spanning tale ​of one man's impossible life charted against the fate of humanity amongst the stars—a powerfully imaginative space opera from multi-award-winning author Claire North.

In telling my story, there are certain things I should perhaps lie about. I should make myself a hero. Pretend I was not used by strangers and gods, did not leave people behind.

Here is one out there in deep space, in the pilot's chair, I died. And then, I was reborn. I became something not quite human, something that could speak to the infinite dark. And I vowed to become the scourge of the world that wronged me.

This is the story of the supernova event that burned planets and felled civilizations. This is also the story of the many lives I've lived since I died for the first time.

Are you listening?
 
  5 votes 26.3%

19 total votes
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“There are only two types of people who can be totally honest with each other, lovers and strangers. Everyone else is just negotiating.”
James Grippando

88212 A Good Thriller — 23001 members — last activity 1 minute ago
We share a passion for action-packed, gripping, exciting, tense thrillers and mysteries, a genre rich with talented authors. We invite you to share yo ...more
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