Albuquerque indie author Daniel P. Douglas has released Blood Wing: A Cold War Noir Thriller, the second entry in his Jack Morrison's Blood & Bourbon Mystery Files series. The novella was named one of ten finalists in the inaugural ProWritingAid Novel Beginnings Contest, selected from over 14,570 entries worldwide.
Blood Wing follows ex-LAPD detective turned private investigator Jack Morrison as he probes the death of a Black night-shift janitor at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach in January 1951. The company dismisses it as an industrial accident, closing the case without interviewing the widow. The family hires Morrison because the dead man's brother once shared a foxhole with him in Italy during World War II. As Morrison digs deeper, he uncovers a Cold War espionage operation and a murder that the federal government will classify into official nonexistence.
The story unfolds against the backdrop of the McCarthy era and the Lavender Scare, the systematic purge of suspected homosexuals from federal and defense employment. The widow who refuses to accept a lie, and the federal prosecutor who can pursue the spying but cannot restore the dead man, stand at the center of a narrative exploring what justice means when the official record will never tell the truth.
Douglas expressed gratitude for the contest recognition. "Being a finalist for the Novel Beginnings Contest is one of the most meaningful moments in my writing life," he said. "I'm grateful to ProWritingAid, the contest readers, and the judges for recognizing Blood Wing."
The novella, roughly 25,000 words, is a complete story readable in a single sitting and works as an entry point to the series. Readers interested in Morrison's first case can find it in Blood Tide: A Harbor Noir Thriller, set on the Los Angeles waterfront.
Writing as Daniel P. Douglas, a pen name he shares with his identical twin brother Paul, Phillip Garver has authored short stories and novels across genres including space operas, supernatural westerns, and hardboiled thrillers. His experience as a U.S. Army veteran and former senior analyst in the U.S. intelligence community provides authentic detail for the conspiracy and thriller elements in his stories. Douglas was named a 2014 Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book-of-the-Year Award Finalist in Science Fiction and is a Readers' Favorite Award winner. He lives in the greater Albuquerque, New Mexico area.
