Ford County (2009)

Ford County is a collection of novellas by John Grisham. His first collection of stories, it was published by Doubleday in the United States in 2009.

The book contains 7 short stories or novellas: "Blood Drive"; "Fetching Raymond"; "Fish Files"; "Casino"; "Michael's Room"; "Quiet Haven"; and "Funny Boy".

Plot summaries

"Blood Drive"

A young man named Bailey is injured in a construction accident in Memphis. His plight is publicized and three young men–Aggie, Calvin and Roger–decide to drive there to donate blood to him. Roger, an alcoholic, insists they stop at a gas station so he can purchase beer; he tells several stories about Memphis strip clubs, stimulating Aggie and Calvin's curiosity. They are nearly arrested for drunk driving by a sheriff's deputy and nearly shot by a homeowner. Arriving in Memphis, the three decide to hit up one of Roger's favorite strip clubs before donating their blood. Calvin falls in love with a stripper named Amber and takes her seriously when she calls him "cute".

Drinking too much and unable to make their way around the city, the men eventually sell their blood at a nearby blood bank, having forgotten where Bailey is being treated. After passing out in the pickup, Roger awakens during a shootout between gangs and flees with a pistol he found under the pickup's seat. While pursued, Roger encounters a man and woman fighting next to a car and rescues the woman. She takes his gun and holds him hostage as he drives the car away. Aggie and Calvin return to find their pickup riddled with bullet holes. They return to the strip club to spend the fifty dollars apiece they received from the blood bank.

A Memphis Police Department vice squad springs a raid on the strip club, and Aggie and Calvin are injured in the resulting riot. Back home, the families who had gathered together in support of Bailey must send additional people to Memphis to bail the trio out of jail and see to Aggie's medical care, as he has suffered a concussion far more severe than Bailey's injury.

"Fetching Raymond"

The middle-aged brothers Butch and Leon - respectively a habitual car thief and a more or less reformed criminal - retrieve their mother Inez. They set out in a borrowed van for the notorious Parchman prison, where their younger brother Raymond is on death row for murdering a Deputy. En route the brothers and their mother start bickering. Gradually it becomes clear that they are not bound on normal prison visit. Raymond is about to be executed.

Raymond is a prolific writer who has delusions of grandeur, as well as delusions of success in his numerous legal appeals. He claims to have scores of lawyers ready to exonerate him and who are filing motions and briefs in all directions. Raymond had gone through intellectual phases of religion (or atheism), diet, exercise, music, and literature. He wrote nine bulky books, using sophisticated words which his family does not understand - but in fact no publisher wanted them.

When his family arrives, Raymond still appears to go through manic episodes and still hopes for a last-minute reprieve. But when the delusion is shattered, with the Warden coming to take Raymond to the gas chamber, he accepts his execution calmly.

Raymond has a final hug with his mother, who accepts a sedative offered by the warden. The two brothers watch Raymond's last moments, when he manages dignified final words and asks the forgiveness of his victim's family.

Afterward, Raymond's coffin is loaded on the van. Immediately on arrival at their hometown, he is buried in a grave that was prepared by a backhoe. The family holds no real funeral, as they are unpopular with their neighbors. Afterward, Butch stays with their mother and Leon returns to work, as he can't afford to miss a day.

"Fish Files"

Among the 50 lawyers in a small town of 10,000 people is the protagonist of this story. He is another "ham-and-egger" local attorney, dealing with minor bankruptcies, deeds, divorces, personal injuries, and other matters. Some of his files are the eponymous ones of the title; he has let them to go untouched for so long that clients forget they ever retained him (and the cases "go bad" like untouched fish). The attorney is tired of his mediocre life and feels unappreciated by his family.

One day he gets a call out of the blue from a New York attorney at a prestigious firm, claiming to have been retained by the European purchaser of a chainsaw manufacturer. The Europeans, the New York attorney claims, are terrified of the American system of tort law and want to settle any old cases from the chainsaw company. The "fish files" contain the cases of four loggers who were injured, and the New York attorney offers $100,000 per each case, plus an additional $100,000 for court costs. The local lawyer's take is 40%, and he is ecstatic.

Deciding to flee from his unpleasant life, he fires his secretary, declares bankruptcy, and divorces his wife. He offers $25,000 to the two loggers he finds of the original four - who are happy to get anything at all and don't realize that their lawyer has stolen most of the money due to them - and makes no real effort to trace the other two. The protagonist then departs serenely for life of pleasant leisure in the Caribbean.

"Casino"

Stella is 48 years old and has been married for years to Sidney, a small-town accountant. She cannot remember why they fell in love in the first place, and their lives have become dull with no romance or excitement. Sidney is distraught when Stella files for divorce. When she leaves him, their college-age daughter sides with her mother, further damaging Sidney's psyche.