Showing results by author "H. Terrell Griffin" in All Categories

On balance, retired trial lawyer turned-beach bum Matt Royal is a pretty laid-back fellow. But when Laurence Wyatt, one of Matt's best friends, is murdered, Matt trades in his easygoing ways for a hard-hitting quest for revenge. Matt knows the Longboat Key police will do their job in investigating. But for Matt, finding Wyatt's killer isn't a job; it's personal. Determined to do whatever it takes to solve Wyatt's murder, Matt takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a clandestine investigation.

In this John Grisham-style mystery, Matt Royal, the retired lawyer turned beach bum is called back into the courtroom to defend his girlfriend J. D. Duncan's Aunt Esther, who lives in the sprawling North Central Florida retirement community of The Villages. A best-selling author has been murdered after a book signing, and Aunt Esther has been arrested. Matt has a history with the local sheriff - one which may not bode well for his client.

Longboat Key Detective J. D. Duncan is investigating a cold case when the brother of the victim shows up on the island and complicates the investigation. A grizzled sailor - described by Matt as "the meanest man I'd ever known" - brings his boat into a local marina and bodies begin to accumulate. A Middle East jihadist intent on revenge locks on to Jock's clandestine past, bringing a deadly chase to the last outpost in the continental US - Key West. Three prongs of evil descend, clashing violently.

Matt Royal is going back to the courtroom. He has agreed to defend his good friend and wife of Longboat Key's police chief. Abby Lester has been charged with the murder of Nate Bannister, an unlikeable, shady character. He was found shot to death in his downtown Sarasota condo, and the evidence points to Abby as the killer. Matt cannot refuse Abby's pleas for help, despite having retired from the practice of law several years earlier. Now he must face a hotshot prosecuting attorney with a record of 22 wins and zero losses in murder trials.

When a serial killer shows up on Longboat Key, Florida, after a twelve year absence, Matt Royal is stymied. The first woman killed on Longboat Key has ties to a secretive government agency for which Matt’s best friend Jock Algren works. Was this a coincidence or was she a targeted kill? Matt’s friend, Longboat Key detective Jennifer Diane (J.D.) Duncan, investigates the murders but also seems to be a target of the killer. Why? And where has the killer been for twelve years?

After a week away, Matt Royal's ready to get back to the Longboat Key good life - good fishing, good food, good beer, and more good fishing. But Matt comes back to bad news: while he was away, a sniper tried to kill one of his best friends. Even worse, now that Matt's back, someone's trying to kill him. And whoever is trying to kill him is trying hard. With no clue who's after him or why, Matt soon finds he's at the center of a mystery involving a lawyer's murder, a tourist left for dead, a biker gang, a billionaire, and an ancient document.

The quiet beauty of Longboat Key is shattered when a young groom is shot to death on the beach the day after his wedding. His father is an old army buddy of Matt Royal, and Matt tries to soften the anguish of his friend by finding his son's murderer. Matt's search takes on added complexity when there appears to be a link between this murder and three seemingly unrelated murders that occurred on board a dinner cruise on Sarasota Bay the same day.

Matt Royal never has to look far for excitement. Excitement - and sometimes trouble - has a way of finding him first. But for this fun-loving lawyer turned beach bum, things are about to get serious. Dead serious. When his ex-wife asks for help in tracking down her stepdaughter, last seen in Matt's hometown of Longboat Key, Matt agrees to do a little searching. But what looks like the case of one missing girl turns out to be something much bigger-and much more dangerous.

The quiet of Longboat Key, Florida, is shattered when an old man is shot to death and his murderer is killed while fleeing the police. Strange documents in German and Arabic are found in the killer's car then an old friend of the murdered man disappears. As the mystery deepens, a ragtag group of devious and dangerous characters intrudes on the lives of the islanders, creating a kind of havoc unusual for a sun-splashed island full of retirees and beach bums.