Sometimes life prepares us for the places we will go. Take, for instance, H. Terrell Griffin. A trial lawyer for more than 35 years, Griffin has an undergraduate degree in history. Then, after practicing law for about three years, he took a creative writing course at the University of Central Florida. Even then he was thinking he had a novel in him - and, perhaps, more than one -- but as an increasingly busy trial lawyer, he could never find the time to write creatively. That changed earlier this decade as Griffin approached retirement, finally finding himself with enough time on his hands to realize his lifelong dream of writing a book. Griffin knew early on that the book would have to be set in his adopted home state of Florida, a place he adores. "I've lived in the state most of my life," Griffin says. "I love its quirkiness, its bigger than life reality, its polyglot of people, each with his or her own backstory."
Griffin's first novel, Longboat Blues, was published in 2005. That book became a regional bestseller pretty much out of the gate, introducing the world to Matt Royal, the character one reviewer described as "Travis McGee with a law degree." Griffin doesn't rush to disagree. "I'm not sure there's anything I don't like about Matt. The beauty of writing fiction is that you can fashion your hero in the image that you want, imbuing him with traits that you'd like to see in yourself. If Matt has weaknesses, they're the human frailties that infect us all, and he strives mightily to overcome those that possess him."
The third Matt Royal novel, Blood Island, will be published this December. This time out, Matt is on a quest to find his ex-wife's stepdaughter, but the people he talks to begin to be murdered. He soon discovers that his life is in danger and he follows a lead to Key West, trying to find the stepdaughter and discover why he is now himself a target. Griffin says that Matt "stumbles onto a religious cult on Blood Island that has plans to cause great harm to the world. He has to stop the coming conflagration while saving the young girl."Saving that girl is a a tall order but, Matt Royal is up to the task and in his third novel, Griffin is in top form. According to Publishers Weekly, "Griffin's breezy first-person narration brings the likable Matt, with his killer reflexes and wry sense of humor, vividly to life."
Foreword Magazine agrees. "Griffin knows his locales, from Orlando and Sarasota to the Florida Keys, nailing the tropical atmosphere comprised of weather, bars, geography and people. He has the good sense to not go the kitsch route, so that Royal and his friends are real people and not caricatures from a Jimmy Buffet song."
Though Griffin does indeed know his locales, some of them are entirely his own creation. Blood Island itself, for instance, was crafted from fictional cloth, though the Mule Keys, located just west Key West, are real.
Much of the action in Blood Island takes place on this fictional real estate when Matt discovers a cult based on Blood Island. "The name is based on an old Spanish title," says Griffin, "Isla de Sangre, which translates to Blood Island. The name was given to it by the original salvagers of the treasure ship Nuestra Senora de Atocha in the 17th century."
Both the novelist and his best known creation live in the same place, Longboat Key, Florida. According to Griffin, there are few places better. "The island is paradise, with its own little slice of Florida, sort of a microcosm of the whole state," says Griffin. "I'm one of the very few people on the island that grew up in Florida. Most are from somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line and they all brought their stories with them, or made them up when they got there."
Nor is the place where they hang their hats the only thing Matt Royal and the man that created him have in common. "Matt and I are both lawyers who became disenchanted with a profession that lost its nobility," Griffin says. "We both appreciate smart beautiful women (I've been married to one for 45 years) who keep us sane. We both value friendship and we both love Longboat Key, boats, and beer at Tiny's bar. Beyond that, Matt is a creature of my imagination, perhaps the guy I wanted to be but was too chicken."
Contributing editor Linda L. Richards
is also the editor of January Magazine and a contributor to The Rap Sheet.
Her fifth novel, DEATH WAS IN THE PICTURE, will be published St.
Martin's Minotaur/Thomas Dunne January 2009.
