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22 Legal Stud. F. 21 (1998)
Collins to Grisham: A Brief History of the Legal Thriller

handle is hein.journals/lstf22 and id is 31 raw text is: COLLINS TO GRISHAM: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LEGAL THRILLER MARLYN ROBINSON* Whoever tells the best story, wins the case. To many Americans, this modern maxim embodies the pivotal role of the lawyer: control the narrative. Whether drafting a contract or laying out evidence in a courtroom, the lawyer's ability to manipulate language determines the outcome of the client's case. Many would argue that practitioners deliberately obscure the law's language, in the use of arcane procedures, rules, and conventions. What could be more natural than for lawyers to be among the leaders in the creation of the mystery novel, and particularly, the sub-genre legal thriller? John Grisham, former Mississippi attorney and author of eight best- selling legal thrillers, has said, Though Americans distrust the profession as a whole, we have an insatiable appetite for stories about crimes, criminals, trials and all sorts of juicy lawyer stuff.' We have yet to reach Grisham satiation, for his books and movies have been translated or dubbed into 31 languages and grossed several billion dollars in sales. What prompts his popularity? Grisham describes his formula: You throw an innocent person in there, get 'em caught up in a conspiracy and you get 'em out.2 Certainly not original, but it works; and when lawyers apply their knowledge of the legal system to that formula, the result is the legal thriller. In the past ten years, encouraged first by the success of Scott Turow, then by Grisham's mega-hits, hundreds of lawyers have churned out suspense novels with courtroom pyrotechnics, embittered lawyers turned sleuths, and clients who are almost always innocent. Modern readers most likely think this explosion a recent phenomenon, but before there was Turow, there were Voelker and Gardner, Post and Collins, and a host of lesser known lawyer/authors. Their precursors were the attorneys who collected together true crime and trial stories of eighteenth-century Europe, the foundations of the early forms of the mystery novel. Even as early as the mid-1500's, cunning criminals and scandalous trials were the focus of many printed stories and theatrical presentations. Actual cases presented as stories were first brought * Reference Librarian, Jamail Center for Legal Research, Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas, Austin. ' John Grisham, The Rise of the Legal Thriller- Why Lawyers are Throwing the Books at Us, New York Times (Book Review), Oct. 18, 1992,, p. 33. ' Kelli Pryor, Over 60 Million Sold, Entertainment Weekly, April 1, 1994, pp. 14, 18,

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