Nancy Grace Books In Order

Publication Order of Hailey Dean Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

About Nancy Grace:

Early life

Nancy Grace was born in Macon (Georgia) on October, 23, 1959. Her father, Mac Grace, was a freight agent for Southern railway and her mother, Elizabeth Grace, was a factory worker. Grace has a brother, Mac Jr. and a sister, Ginny. The Grace family has been a member of the Macon’s Liberty United Methodist Church, where Elizabeth Grace played the organ and Mac Grace was a Sunday School teacher.

Grace attended high school at the Windsor Academy in Macon. After her graduation in the year 1977, she attended the Valdosta State University. She was particularly fond of Shakespeare and was willing to become an English professor after graduating. However, her life plans were changed by a sudden and terrible episode that involved her in the first person. As a matter of fact, her fiancé, Keith Griffin, was murdered when she was 19. After this shocking event, Grace decided to enrol in law school, in order to become a felony prosecutor and a supporter of victims’ rights. Grace was a member of the law review and received her Juris Doctor from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer. She then earned a Master of Laws from New York University.

Nancy Grace, a Prosecutor

Grace worked for over ten years as a Special Prosecutor. She focussed primarily on cases involving murders, rapes and child molestations.

Grace’s passionate and hot-blooded behaviour has almost impeded her work in a couple of episode. One of these episodes dates back to 1994, when she was accused of exceeding with comparisons to unrelated murder and rape cases during an heroin trafficking case.

Nancy Grace, a Broadcaster

Grace decided to change her life plans again in 2005, when she left the prosecutors’ office and accepted an offer from Court TV founder Steven Brill to conduct a legal documentary show together with broadcaster and showmen Johnnie Cochran.

Parallel to this show, she began hosting another legal show titled Nancy Grace, on CNN Headline News. On May 9, 2007, she announced that she would leave Court TV to focus more on her CNN program and on some charity works.

Her interviewing style is distinctive and easily recognizable: she mixes questions with videos and records.

A Career Full of Controversies

Even though she is fondly loved by her audience, some journalists have attacked her personal style. David Carr, among the others, has criticized the way in which she has handled some cases, by saying that her show “erodes the respect for basic rights”.

One of the most famous case of controversy is the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case. In 2002, when Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped, suspect Richard Ricci was arrested by the police on the basis that he had a criminal record and that he personally knew Elizabeth. Grace, during her show, frequently stated that Ricci was guilty, even if there was no real evidence. The police eventually found out that Ricci was innocent and Grace was asked if she felt bad about her accusations in any way. She answered that hers was a very plausible theory, as Ricci was a former con.

Another famous case is the one involving Melinda Duckett, who in September 2002, committed suicide after an interview with Grace concerning the disappearance of her 2-year-old son Trenton. Grace interviewed Duckett only two weeks after her son went missing, and she aggressively questioned her, accusing her of being involved in her son’s disappearance. Right after the show, Duckett shot herself. In an interview on Good Morning America, Grace stated that Duckett’s suicide was a clear sign of the fact that she was guilty.

Nancy Grace in the Popular Culture

Grace is well-known by the American audience and her particular manners has made her both allies and enemies. She has participated in many shows, among which Dancing with the stars. She has also appeared in some movies and TV shows, like Hancock, Law and Order, Raising Hope and The Newsroom. Moreover, in Gillian Flynn’s 2012 book Gone Girl, the character of Ellen Abbot is thought to be closely based on Nancy Grace, in a very unfavourable portray.

Personal Life

In April 2007, Grace married David Linch, an Atalanta investment banker. They had a private, simple ceremony. On June,26, 2007, she announced on her talk show that she was pregnant with twins, Lucy Elizabeth and John David, who were born in November 4, 2007.

Nancy Grace, a Writer

Style

Although writing is not her first occupation, Nancy Grace has been the author of several books. Her style follows her eccentric manners: she writes in a very passionate way and she engages the reader with her vehement descriptions and plots. She frequently discusses issues concerning violations of rights and she always takes the side of the victims, with her special outspoken style that has won her both praise and condemnation.

Books and Latest Releases

Grace’s first book is Objection!: How High-Priced Defence Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System. Published in 2005, the book presents Grace’s personal arguments on what’s wrong with the American legal system and what can be done to improve it. Grace touches many topics and uses a great number of examples to back up her statements.

Her most recent works include The Eleventh Victim. Published in 2009, it is a mystery thriller, highly influenced by Grace’s personal life. Her love for Shakespeare is visible from the very first pages of the book, when a scene of the Hamlet is juxtaposed to a brutal rape scene. The book then continues by following the life of young psychology student Hailey Dean, whose fiancé Will is murdered just a couple of weeks before their wedding. Shattered by her loss, Hailey moves to New York and begins a career of therapist, because she wants to help people overcoming the difficulties of their lives, as she has done with her own. When her patients start to be murdered with the same modus operandi of Will’s assassin, Hailey is forced to investigate into this dangerous matter, risking her life. The book is full of suspense and forces the readers not to stop until they know how the story is going to end. The book was adapted to a movie in 2012, with Jennie Grath playing the role of Hailey Dean.