The Widow

The legal thriller, a genre that surged in popularity in the late 20th century, often focuses on a morally compromised protagonist whose professional life becomes entangled with a criminal conspiracy. The genre is in some ways an outgrowth of earlier noir detective fiction, which features similarly flawed protagonists who confront intractable systems of power. Along with John Grisham, authors like Scott Turow, whose 1987 novel Presumed Innocent centers a prosecutor accused of murder, and William Diehl, whose 1993 novel Primal Fear is about a shady attorney defending an altar boy accused of murder, established the conventions of the genre. Typically, novels in this genre follow flawed professionals who, when faced with systemic corruption or immense personal temptation, bend or break the law. This framework provides an engine for suspense while exploring the fragility of personal and professional ethics.

The Widow builds directly on this tradition through its protagonist, Simon Latch, a disillusioned small-town lawyer whose “law school dreams of riches had faded so dim they were almost gone” (1). The appearance of Eleanor Barnett and her supposed multimillion-dollar fortune immediately reignites his ambition, but it also triggers his ethical collapse.