'If I didn't write, what else would I do?'

John Grisham talks about his new novel Gray Mountain, Twitter and Hillary Clinton. He also answers readers' questions about life as a bestselling thriller writer.

For one of the biggest of big-shot writers, who has sold 275 million books worldwide, stormed the Hollywood box office in the 1990s and - even in the relative twilight of a 25-year career - still earns ��10 million a year from his work, John Grisham is something of a surprise.

When we meet, it's not in some swanky Los Angeles studio or the suite of a boutique New York hotel, but on a rain-stained street in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is prosperous small-town America, built of red brick in the colonial style, with a little history to raise the tone - two American presidents, Jefferson and Monroe, came from Charlottesville. And the man who comes padding round the corner in lace-ups, khaki slacks and an open-necked checked shirt seems to fit right in.