Overview

• Iles achieved bestseller status with the Natchez Burning trilogy, historical suspense novels set in 1960s Mississippi that explore race and class.
• He kept his multiple myeloma diagnosis hidden since 1996 until the 2024 publication of his final novel, Southern Man.
• As lead guitarist of the Rock Bottom Remainders, he performed alongside fellow authors including Stephen King, Amy Tan and Dave Barry.
• He is survived by his wife, Caroline, and their four children.
• He overcame a near-fatal 2011 car crash that caused a ruptured aorta, a partial leg amputation and an eight-day medically induced coma.