The Last Juror follows the coming of age of Willie Traynor. After college, Willie moves to rural Ford County, Mississippi to work for a small town newspaper as a staff writer. Shortly after his arrival, the paper goes bankrupt and Willie taps his rich grandmother to fund his purchase of the paper. At age 23, Willie has become the publisher and editor of a bankrupt newspaper.

Not long after, Danny Padgitt - the son of a local crime family - rapes and murders a young widow in front of her two children. The horrible story is a newspaperman's dream. Willie covers the news of the crime, as well as the subsequent trial, with vigor. His newspaper thrives as a result.

Meanwhile, Willie interviews Calia Ruffin, a local black woman, for a human-interest story. She and her husband have managed to raise eight children, seven of whom have...