Fatal Decree: A Matt Royal Mystery

Griffin's seventh Matt Royal mystery (after 2011's Collateral Damage) offers a good mix of action and investigation. The retired Florida attorney's love interest, J.D. Duncan, the sole police officer on Longboat Key, seeks him out after a corpse that surfaces near the island reawakens painful memories. Twelve years earlier, when Duncan served in Miami, she was unsuccessful in the hunt for%C2%A0a serial killer who struck three times. The murderer's victims were all middle-aged women or older, and each was bound to a tree and shot in the back of the head. The killer was dubbed the whale tail for his habit of pinning a silver whale tail earring through the left ear lobe of the dead women. That the latest victim was similarly marked raises the question of whether a copycat or the original is responsible. The plot is nicely complex, even if the characters could use more depth. (Jan.)