Chasing Justice, by H. Terrell Griffin. Oceanview Publishing. 400 pages. Hardcover $27.95.
Call it Phil’s law. Whenever you have a mystery novel with two separate murder cases, the chances are that they will become linked in some way. Such is the situation in Mr. Griffin’s latest. A couple of murders are occupying their time and energy, though Longboat Key Police Detective J. D. (Jennifer Diane) Duncan and usually retired lawyer Matt Royal find plenty of energy for each other. 
In J. D.’s professional lap is the question of why a nude, beautiful, surgically-enhanced blond named Linda Favereaux had been found with her skull crushed in her enormous, luxurious beach home. Her husband, two plus decades her senior, is nowhere to be found.
Matt has agreed to come out of retirement to defend his good friend Abby Lester, wife of the J. D’s police chief boss. She’s been accused of murdering a shady local businessman named Nate Bannister. Worse yet (though what’s worse than murder), she’s been accused of having had an affair with the man. A piece of physical evidence puts her at the scene of the crime. Abby says she had never even met Bannister.
If Abby is telling the truth, how did that evidence get there? What’s going on?
Why is the case moving so quickly? What does it mean that the prosecuting attorney is borrowed from another jurisdiction within the state? Why has the investigation been given over to a state law enforcement agency? Why does the agent in charge seem to be so eager for this assignment?
Back to J. D.’s case: while the Favereaux couple has been living on Longboat Key for a couple of years, hardly anyone knows them. They keep to themselves. It’s obvious that they are enormously wealthy, but what is the source of that wealth?
Griffin
These mysteries are like two giant piñatas with many smaller mysteries inside. J. D. has a case that leads to upper echelons of clandestine government operations. Yet it remains pretty much a straight, detective-focused murder mystery.
Matt’s story turns into a legal procedural and ultimately into a finely crafted courtroom drama. His case, too, becomes tangled up with people in high places – power players who have a lot to hide, including who really killed Nate Bannister. . . .
To read the entire review, as it appears in the August 26, 2015 Fort Myers Florida Weekly and the August 27 Naples, Bonita Springs, and Punta Gorda / Port Charlotte editions, click here: Florida Weekly – Chasing Justice
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