Why did John Grisham write an apology to beloved owner of Biloxi’s oldest restaurant?
Even before “The Boys from Biloxi” is released Oct. 18, Bobby Mahoney has an advance copy of the novel — and an apology from John Grisham.
The New York Times bestselling author and the owner of Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in Biloxi have been friends for 25 years.
“Every year he sends me a signed book,” Mahoney said, and every Christmas Mahoney sends Grisham, a Mississippi native, a “care package” with the restaurant’s famed gumbo and other Coast seafood.
This time the book arrived with a couple of messages from Grisham.
One was a handwritten note thanking Mahoney for his help with the book.
The other was typed on Grisham’s letterhead.
“You were a great source of colorful stories and old history,” Grisham told Mahoney, who is known for delighting customers at his restaurant with jokes and stories.
“I owe you an apology,” Grisham continued. “At the end of each book, I always include an author’s note in which I thank the people who helped me along the way.”
This time, for a multitude of reasons, the book went to press before the note was completed, he said.
“All of the apologies have been made and what’s done is done. But I feel lousy about it,” Grisham wrote.
John Grisham’s author note
Grisham sent Mahoney a copy of the author’s note and said it will be added to the E-book, reprints and paperback versions of “The Boys from Biloxi.”
In addition, Grisham thanked several other people who contributed to the book:
- Mike Holloman, a close friend from law school
- Former Biloxi mayor Gerald Blessey
- Former Mississippi governor Ronnie Musgrove
- Glad Jones
- Paige Guiterrrez
- Teresa Beck Miller
- Michael J. Ratliff
Keith Bell and Royce Hignight, FBI agents who worked on the Coast in the 1970s and ‘80s, shared many stories of the days of “The Dixie Mafia” in the South.
“They are retired now and told me enough stories to fill a dozen books,” Grisham said. “Some I’ve used here in a greatly embellished way.”
While the book is fiction, Grisham said in his author’s note: ”There was a real Mary Mahoney and she opened a fine restaurant in Biloxi in 1964. She named it The Old French House and it’s still there, now run by her son Bob, a dear friend. He grew up on The Point, is a proud native and knows more stories than those two FBI guys.”
More on ‘Boys from Biloxi’ by John Grisham
Grisham’s website calls the book “his most gripping legal thriller yet.” It is the story of two sons of immigrant families who grow up as friends, but find themselves on opposite sides of the law as adults. The showdown comes in the courtroom.
The book promises Grisham’s trademark twists and turns his readers found in “The Firm,” “The Partner,” “The Last Juror” and many of his other legal thrillers.
The synopsis says that while Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts and seafood industry, it had a darker side.
“It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor and drugs to contract killings,” it says.
A Chapter 1 excerpt is available online for those who can’t wait until the book release.
Good for Biloxi
Grisham came to the restaurant while researching the book and sat down to talk.
“I don’t know that I told him anything significant,” Mahoney said, but Grisham mentioned the restaurant several times in the book.
Mahoney read an excerpt from the book, when the characters arrive at Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in a 1966 Mustang convertible and pay cash for a big dinner of steaks and seafood.
The book will share Mary Mahoney’s and Biloxi with a worldwide audience, Mahoney said.
“People have learned that Biloxi is a hell of a place to come,” he said.
Grisham has written Mary Mahoney’s into previous books, and Mahoney has memorized those passages from “The Runaway Jury.”
When lunch was delayed, Judge Harkin summoned the jury and told his law clerk: “Call Bob Mahoney and tell him to prepare the back room.”
Mahoney recites, “They dined on crab cakes and grilled snapper, fresh oysters and Mahoney’s famous gumbo.”
The book, the movie?
It was at Mary Mahoney’s a couple of decades ago that Mahoney first met Grisham, who came to a fundraiser for former governor Ronnie Musgrove.
Mahoney said about 20 people sat in the back room in kind of a jury setting.
Mahoney said that back room may have inspired Grisham, who told Mahoney at that time that his next book was going to take place in Biloxi and asked if it would be OK to put Mary Mahoney’s restaurant in the book.
Several of Grisham’s novels have become blockbuster motion pictures, and Mahoney said he could see that happening with “The Boys from Biloxi.”
Mississippi Motion Picture Incentive Program provides a 30% cash rebate payroll paid to resident cast and crew, along with sales tax reductions and other incentives.
And where else but Biloxi could this book become a film, Mahoney said.
Correction: World-famous author John Grisham did not say Bobby Mahoney knows more about the Dixie Mafia than the FBI, only that Mahoney knows more stories. An email promotion about this story contained incorrect information.
This story was originally published October 4, 2022 at 2:55 PM.
