Greg Iles wraps up 'Natchez' trilogy, hits No. 1 on USA TODAY's list

Here’s a look at what’s new on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list…

Third book’s the charm: Greg Iles has his first-ever No. 1 USA TODAY best seller with Mississippi Blood (William Morrow), the final book in his searing Natchez Burning trilogy.

The thriller series deals with racism in the South and revolves around a Natchez, Miss., prosecutor named Penn Cage. It began with Natchez Burning, which hit No. 5 in 2014, and continued with The Bone Tree, which made it to No. 3 in 2015.

Booklist said, "This trilogy is destined to become a classic of literary crime fiction."

In the new book, Penn’s father, Dr. Tom Cage, is being tried for the murder of his African-American nurse, Viola Turner. Secrets of Mississipi’s violent past and a KKK splinter group cell called Double Eagles are revealed.

In a recent interview on local Memphis TV, Iles said Mississippi Blood is about “a beloved white doctor, I call him Atticus Finch with a stethoscope…(Penn Cage discovers) his father might not have been the saint he thought he was, and he finds out he has a half African-American brother.”

Iles, who lives in Natchez, says he decided to write the trilogy and deal with racial issues after a horrific traffic accident in 2011, in which he lost part of his right leg. During the TV interview, Iles said: "Racism is not confined to the South...it's all over the country...people are ready are tackle this. We have to if we're going to make progress."

Mississippi Blood is Iles’ 18th USA TODAY best seller; he first hit the list in 1995 with Black Cross, which peaked at No. 43.

He is on a book tour that concludes April 20 in San Antonio, Texas.