Date: December 12, 2012
by: Robin Hartill | City Editor

H. Terrell ‘Terry’ Griffin holds a copy of ‘Fatal Decree,’ his seventh novel.

1. Next chapter: Griffin is already working on his next Matt Royal novel, tentatively called “Found.” In the opening scene, fictional Longboat Key Police Detective Jennifer Diane “J.D.” Duncan receives a text message and picture from an old friend who is missing was presumed dead reading “Help.”

2. Buy the books: Griffin estimates that he has sold, at most, between 20,000 and 30,000 novels, but when 2010’s “Blood Island” was briefly offered as a free download on Amazon.com, it was downloaded more than 100,000 times.

3. Reading the write stuff: Griffin credits his lifelong voracious reading habits with teaching him to write.

4. School of life: Griffin wrote frequently when he was in the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Germany along the Berlin Wall when it was erected and faced the constant threat of Soviet invasion. He wrote about his thoughts and feelings, knowing that he would want to remember his experiences.

5. Change in perspective: Griffin has toyed with the idea of writing a novel from J.D.’s point of view and has written a couple of pages. But he knows he would have to write it in the third person because getting into the head of a woman could be dangerous.