Matt Royal lives on Longboat Key, where the weather is mostly splendid, with friends, his loving partner JD and just enough sporadic calls upon his expertise as a lawyer (retired) to make life interesting. The Key is a barrier island off the southwestern Florida coast, about an hour's drive from Tampa, just large enough for the locals and the snowbirds who come to visit during the harsh winters up north. The locals endure the snowbirds that come down as a way to keep the economy up to par (lots of golfing), but are happier when it's just them.

The Villages, a retirement community in Collier, is where much of the action takes place, and where JD's Aunt Esther, a retired English teacher, lives. As an active retiree, she enjoys being a member of a book club, in which each member dabbles in mystery writing.

When the body of best-selling author Olivia Lathom is discovered, Matt is tapped to represent the alleged killer, Aunt Esther. For family, Matt will put on his lawyer costume and do what has to be done to get justice -- and find the real killer. Despite being convinced of Esther's innocence, Matt learns that not only had she stopped attending the local book club meetings, she also had a beef with a fellow club member who knew the victim.

H. Terell Griffin's writing is well-paced and plotted, and Vindication is a great beach read. The characters are well-realized, and the dialogue is believable. Griffin not only knows how to create real characters, he also knows how to spin a plot that makes the reader appreciate his real-life experience practicing law. His knowledge of Florida -- and the parts of the state that are not just for tourists, but places where real people live -- is refreshing, and makes one long for a visit to any of the many keys that make Florida a special place ... even for murder!