JAMES GRIPPANDO, INC.
CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA

My freshman year of college was at the University of Illinois. Then my family moved to Florida, and I transferred to the University of Florida in Gainesville. I'm a proud "Double Gator," having earned my B.A. with high honors and my law degree with honors. I graduated second in my undergraduate class, was selected to Phi Beta Kappa, and was chosen as the outstanding graduate for leadership. In law school I served as Executive Editor of the University of Florida Law Review and was selected to Order of the Coif. All of this creates a rather grand illusion that I was quite a serious student, but I had a lot of fun, too. A highpoint was when I served as general chairman of the homecoming festivities, which is a big deal at UF. Gator Growl, a spectacular pep rally in Florida Field the night before the game, has always featured a big name entertainer, such as Bob Hope, Robin Williams, or Bill Cosby. My year, it was George Burns. (Years later, I discovered that my agent got his start in the entertainment industry doing publicity work for George Burns -- coincidence?) People often want to know who or what steered me toward writing. First, I'd say my mom. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my father coming home from work on Saturday afternoon from the printing company, and my mother feeding me and giving me a bath before she headed off in her starched white nursing uniform to work the Saturday night late shift at the hospital. Somehow she managed to raise five kids, work, and take courses on the side to get a doctorate degree in education. Her dissertation was later published and became one of the top textbooks in the country for nursing students. More than a quarter century later it was still going strong in its sixth edition. I hope I can have a run like that. My experience at the court of appeals also helped in shaping my ideas for my first novel, I actually liked practicing law. I just wished I could do less of it. That may sound like a contradiction, but the problem with being a lawyer is that, if you get caught up in it, eventually you won't know anything about anything except what you happen to be working on at the moment. Still, it can be rewarding, and I don't just mean the money. I spent twelve years at a prestigious firm in Miami, yet my proudest achievement came as the lawyer for a group of chicken farmers. Yup, you heard me right. A little group of chicken farmers in north Florida decided to sue the largest privately-held corporation in the world. Talk about David versus Goliath. I took the case -- and it lasted for seven years. But we did get the company's attention. Turns out, we got everybody's attention. The Wall Street Journal called our case "the catalyst for change in the $15 billion a year poultry industry." Not bad for a bunch of farmers up to their ankles in . . . well, I'm sure you get the picture. Just as it seems that Theo Knight—of all people—is going to find the right woman before Jack does, along comes Andie Henning (Under Cover of Darkness; Got the Look). Is this sharp, tough FBI agent who drives Jack crazy "the one"? Jack seems to think so—until Theo's boyhood friend Isaac escapes from prison, and Andie is breathing down Theo's neck for—she thinks—helping his old friend on the run. When Isaac turns up dead and Theo is a suspect, Jack needs Andie more than ever if he is to uncover the truth behind Isaac's murder and expose the web of greed and corruption that extends from Miami's Little Harlem to Miami's power elite. An old girlfriend emerges, and it's more than just Jack Swyteck's shaky marriage that's in trouble. The beautiful young Jessie Merrill is diagnosed with a deadly disease and given two years to live. She cuts a deal to sell her $3 million life insurance policy to investors for and immediate $1.5 million cash in hand. The investors will collect the $3 million and double their money when she dies—soon, they hope. Jessie's misdiagnosis changes everything: the investors are after her, and she needs Jack's help. When Jessie's body turns up in his bathtub, Jack is suddenly wanted for murder—and he's on a collision course with a possible killer who is beyond suspicion. , a famous dessert that (she says) was stolen from her by the Nicaraugans. After sending her daughter to Miami, she remained in Bejucal, hoping someday to find her own way out of Castro's Cuba. It was decades after Ana's death when she finally made it to Miami. Now, her sole mission in life is to give her gringo grandson a crash course in Cuban culture. So far, she gives him a C-minus.  A spellbinding novel of suspense from New York Times bestselling author James Grippando, in which Miami’s top prosecutor becomes a prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance, which may have a chilling connection to the woman he can’t forget. “CANE AND ABE is a stunning thriller. Think GONE GIRL meets Grisham, then throw in shocking twists and turns that will keep you on edge as you race to the end.” — Linda Fairstein, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Defending a woman accused of murdering the man who sexually assaulted her, Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck must uncover where the truth lies between innocence, vengeance, and justice in this spellbinding tale of suspense—based on shocking true-life events—from the New York Times bestselling author of Gone Again. An American businessman disappears in Cartagena. The good news is that he has kidnap & ransom insurance to cover his $3 million ransom. The bad news is that his insurance company refuses to pay. His son, a Miami lawyer, soon learns that the real danger isn't the ruthless Colombian rebels who have taken his father, but a mammoth insurance company with something sinister to hide. What if the government knew that Wall Street's most powerful and successful investment firm was doomed to collapse-a $60 billion Ponzi scheme-but they let it happen? Not only did they let it happen, they wanted it to happen…to advance another agenda. But what agenda? And who, exactly are "they" That is the timely premise of New York Times bestselling author James Grippando's chilling new thriller, and it will have you turning the pages late into the night.