Frank Adams Series, Book One
Murder/Mystery Thriller
Date Published: 05-16-2023
Publisher: BQB Publishing
It was cold and rainy, with low visibility. A perfect morning for sabotage. The company jet carrying a Senior VP mysteriously crashes shortly after taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says it was an accident. The victim’s wife says it was murder. Frank Adams, an independent aviation accident investigator has been hired to find out. Mounting evidence and an additional murder convince Adams that there was indeed foul play.
As what seemed to be disparate events become increasingly linked, Frank reveals a crime of international dimensions. Accustomed to working independently, Frank is forced to call on the help of an old girlfriend as well as a retired DC cop. But unraveling the truth could cost him his life as well as the lives of his friends.
Interview with Daniel V. Meier, Jr.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I’ve written six published books:
MENDOZA’S TREASURE: Mystery/thriller 1980
THE DUNG BEETLES OF LIBERIA, A Novel Based on True Events: Historical Fiction, 2019
NO BIRDS SING HERE: Literary Fiction, 2021
BLOODROOT: Historical Fiction, 2021
BLOOD BEFORE DAWN, Historical/ Military/ Fiction and the sequel to THE DUNG BEETLES OF LIBERIA December 2021
GUIDANCE TO DEATH (Book one of the Frank Adams Investigator Series) May 2023
Asking me to tell you which one I like best is like asking a mother which child she loves best. All the books have their own separate identities, and I am very proud of them all. (However, my wife’s favorite is BLOODROOT, an immersive historical novel about the Jamestown, VA settlement.)
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
GUIDANCE TO DEATH is book one of the Frank Adams Investigator Series, so in book 2, (Title yet to be decided) I plan to develop Frank’s Character and through the story line, continue my research on the character of Man (Greed, Passion, Honor, etc.)
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Certainly, my books prior to GUIDANCE TO DEATH stand alone—each with a specific theme. THE DUNG BEETLES OF LIBERIA and BLOOD BEFORE DAWN go together as a sequence as both the hero and the location remain the same, but each has its own story and its own ambiance.
The Frank Adams Series will all incorporate my knowledge of the aviation industry, but each book will have its own adventure and unique themes.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
In GUIDANCE TO DEATH, it is the sabotage of an airplane’s guidance system that causes it to malfunction and ultimately crash.
How long did it take you to write this book?
The first draft of this book just poured out of me as if it were a story waiting to be told. It was the multiple drafts that followed as well as dealing with both the copy editor and the content editor that took over a year.
What does the title mean?
The title is pretty straightforward. The guidance system failure caused the crash. I was astounded to hear after the book was released that some understood “Guidance to Death” as a guide to dying. Wow. I had never even thought of that!
What did you learn when writing the book?
If you write about the insider’s view of a specific industry, you really have to know your stuff. Fortunately I have been flying since I was 14 years old. And that’s a long time!
What surprised you the most?
Readers and fans will actually get back to you to point out typos and description mistakes. Apparently, Loudoun County is misspelled in GUIDANCE. And while describing a getaway scene, you must be sure the buildings you name are in the correct order!
I must say, I am deeply flattered by all of that. I shows the reader is immersed in the story—and that’s where I want them to be.
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
Oh, I HAVE! And I certainly have gotten into trouble from readers about that! I’d love to tell you which book caused the most kickback, but that would probably be a spoiler.
What do you do to get inside your character’s heads?
Getting into the character’s head is all part of character development. And that’s the fun part. I use tricks like spying on them when they think nobody is looking. I look at what they buy and how they take care of themselves. It is as slow process because it’s best to release secret facts like that throughout the whole book.
About the Author
A retired Aviation Safety Inspector for the FAA, Daniel V. Meier, Jr. has always had a passion for writing. During his college years, he studied History at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington (UNCW) and American Literature at The University of Maryland Graduate School. In 1980 he published an Action/Thriller, Mendosa’s Treasure with Leisure Books under the pen name of Vince Daniels.
He worked briefly for the Washington Business Journal as a journalist and has been a contributing writer/editor for several aviation magazines. Guidance to Death is a return to a favorite genre of his, Action/Thriller/with the added intrigue of Murder/Mystery.
Other books by Dan are Blood Before Dawn, the sequel to the award-winning novel, The Dung Beetles of Liberia. Bloodroot, also an Historical novel is about the Jamestown settlement in the early 1600’s and No Birds Sing Here, is a work of Satirical Literary Fiction.
Dan and his wife live in Owings, Maryland, about twenty miles south of Annapolis and when he's not writing, they spend their summers sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
1 comments:
The book sounds intriguing. Great cover.
Post a Comment