The Widow

The Widow is a legal thriller and murder mystery by John Grisham, centered on Simon Latch, a small-town lawyer whose professional and personal life is in serious trouble. Simon is burdened by debt, gambling problems, and an impending divorce, so when Eleanor Barnett, an eighty-five-year-old widow, enters his office to arrange a new will, he sees a possible escape from his financial difficulties. Eleanor claims to possess a secret fortune of $20 million, and Simon believes that becoming her lawyer could lead to a life-changing payday. He quietly takes on the wealthy client and attempts to keep her affairs concealed, even from his own assistant. However, other lawyers soon begin pursuing Eleanor and her assets, creating an increasingly dangerous legal and ethical situation. When Eleanor is hospitalized following a car accident, inconsistencies begin to emerge in her story, forcing Simon to question both his client and his own judgment. The situation then turns catastrophic: Simon is accused of murder and must defend himself while trying to determine what really happened. The novel combines courtroom suspense with a puzzle-like investigation involving greed, deception, privilege, hidden motives, and competing claims to wealth. Its central tension comes from Simon’s struggle to clear his name while navigating a case in which nearly everyone appears to have something to hide. Booktopia describes the novel as classic Grisham courtroom drama combined with a confounding murder mystery, while the author’s official site presents it as a whodunit in which a lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer. The supplied ISBN identifies the English first-edition paperback published by Hodder & Stoughton on 21 October 2025; this edition contains 416 pages.