Natchez and the literary world are mourning the loss of Greg Iles, New York Times bestselling author, musician, and advocate for justice, who passed away on Friday, August 15, 2025, at the age of 65.
Greg Iles was born in Stuttgart, West Germany, on April 8, 1960, during the middle of the Cold War. His father ran the U.S. Embassy Medical Clinic. In 1963, his family settled in Natchez. He graduated from Trinity Episcopal School before furthering his education at the University of Mississippi, graduating in 1983 with a degree in English. While attending Ole Miss, Greg—according to his website, lived in the cabin where William Faulkner and his brothers listened to countless stories told by “Mammy Callie,” their beloved nanny, who had been born enslaved.
After graduating from Ole Miss, he went on to join the band Frankly Scarlett, where he was the guitar player until roughly 1990 (though an exact date of his departure is unclear), he would later join the Rock Bottom Remainders, an American rock charity supergroup that was formed in 1992 consisting of popular writers. Their concerts raised a total of $2 million for charity. The members of the Remainders were Greg Iles, Dave Berry, Stephen King, Sam Barry, Amy Tan, and James McBride among many others. The band performed until 2012.
In 1993, he published his first novel, Spandau Phoenix, which went on to be his first of many New York Times bestsellers. Some of his later novels have been adapted for the movie screen, translated into more than 20 languages, and published in more than 35 countries.
24 Hours, a novel written by Greg Iles and published in 2000, was adapted into a movie called Trapped(2002), for which Iles is credited as the writer. The film starred Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon.
In an interview with the LA Times in 2024, he mentioned writing The Quiet Game in 1999, but looked back on it with “regrets,” saying he was “embarrassed by my view of the then.” Reading the investigative journalism of the late Stanley Nelson, former editor of the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, Iles learned about the lynchings that happened in and around Natchez during the 1960s. Nelson had driven Iles around the region, sharing stories and research.
Stanley Nelson passed away Thursday, June 5, 2025. He was immortalized in Greg’s book Natchez Burning as reporter Henry Sexton.
Greg Iles wrote a moving tribute to Stanley Nelson soon after he passed, which ran in the Natchez Democrat as well as on Iles’s Facebook page. In that piece, he revealed some of the behind-the-scenes research for the series he is most famous for—the Natchez Burning trilogy—which marked a shift in his writing from “what-if” thrillers to historical crime fiction rooted in Mississippi’s past.
Greg wrote in his tribute to Nelson: “You grow up white in the South, and if you pay attention, sooner or later you realize you’ve been living with blinders on. That we live on land stained by beatings, rapes, and senseless murders—most unsolved.” He explained that those blinders began to fall off thanks to his father, Dr. Jerry Iles, who treated civil rights victims and became the basis for Dr. Tom Cage in Natchez Burning. His broader education, he said, came from Nelson, who uncovered “the scope and depth of evil involved in the activities of the Silver Dollar Group based in Concordia Parish at the time.”
The more Iles learned about real-life cold cases and the killers who got away, the more he wrote. Eventually, he told his publisher the story needed three books. The publisher said no.
The year 2011 was a turning point for Greg Iles as well as for the Natchez Burning series. Iles awoke in the hospital from a medically induced coma he had been in for eight days, learning that his car had been hit by a truck. He told the LA Times in 2024, “I was missing my right leg below the knee, had a patched aorta, and more broken bones than I can remember.”
This brush with death only deepened his desire to tell the story in its fullness. Again, he told his publisher he needed a trilogy. The publishing house walked away, leaving Iles with “frightening” debt.
HarperCollins struck a deal with Iles, and he started writing. While recovering from his accident, he would, when “in the flow,” write for 16, 24, or even 30 hours at a time.
The trilogy was released as Natchez Burning (2014), The Bone Tree (2015), and Mississippi Blood(2017).
His website outlines the proper order to read the Penn Cage/Natchez Burning series: The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, The Devil’s Punchbowl, The Death Factory (novella), Natchez Burning, The Bone Tree, Mississippi Blood, and his most recent release, Southern Man.
As Iles resumed writing Southern Man, which was released in May 2024, he learned his myeloma had returned. He immediately began chemotherapy. He told the LA Times: “I couldn’t bear to go into such serious treatment and possibly never finish.” The book took two more years. Iles said it took so long because he understood that “this might be the last thing I ever do.”
Greg Iles was very involved in the Natchez community. He participated in the Historic Natchez Tableaux, an antebellum pageant that traces its origins back to some of the first Pilgrimage events of the 1930s. According to the Natchez Democrat, Iles said in 2015 that “in the ‘30s the success of the pageant happened in tandem with the success of the film Gone With the Wind.” In 2015, Pilgrimage Garden Club Queen Madeline Iles was conflicted—according to her father—about the one-sided presentation of history. Greg expressed his feelings about the event in a 2009 speech at the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce Gala, and in 2015 convinced the Garden Club to tell the entire story of Natchez.
After the Charleston church massacre in 2015, Iles teamed up with John Grisham, Steve Yarbrough, and Kathryn Stockett to write an open letter that was published as a full-page ad in The Clarion-Ledger. The letter argued it was unfair to ask Black Mississippians to live under a flag that glorified a war fought to keep their ancestors enslaved. Signatories included Morgan Freeman, Jimmy Buffett, and Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss football coach). While they did not convince the state legislature to change the flag immediately, they planted the seed. Five years later, in 2020, Mississippi lawmakers voted to remove the Confederate emblem from the state flag.
Iles and his wife, Caroline, restored a historic Swiss-chalet-style home called Edelweiss in Natchez. In April 2016, they opened it to host a celebration of the 200th anniversary of Natchez Children’s Services. The home, rarely open to the public, welcomed visitors for an “open house” to raise funds for the organization.
Greg Iles leaves behind a body of work that blends thrilling narratives with explorations of Southern history. His novels are lauded for confronting racial violence and examining the legacy of the Lost Cause.
He helped change cultural narratives in Natchez, laid the foundation for Mississippi to change its state flag, and used his platform to support many other causes.
Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson posted to social media earlier today: “I am heartbroken to hear of the passing of our beloved native son, Greg Iles. Greg was a talented and brilliant author who never backed down from standing for justice and being an outspoken advocate for change. His books were captivating, and in fact mesmerizing. Once I would start reading one I struggled to put it down. Sometimes I would stay up all night straining to stay awake as I turned each page. I was so blessed to call Greg a friend, not only personally, but a friend to all of Natchez. We will forever miss him.”
This story will be updated with information regarding funeral arrangements once available.
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