After almost three years of on again, off again work, I’ve sent my fourth airline thriller off to Susan Gottfried for editing.

I’m ashamed it has taken me that long to write this story. It would be easy to blame life’s demands for getting in the way of my writing, which there is some truth to, but if I had managed my time better this book would’ve been written sooner. Or, I’m not a writer who can pump out a huge volume of books in a short time. I need to let my ideas germinate in my head before fully realizing the story.

Now that the book is in Susan’s capable hands, and depending on her schedule, and David C. Cassidy’s who will format it for both eBook and paperback, I plan its release around Mid-September. I am anxious to get it out there as I’m proud of this story.

This is a departure for me. All of my books open with the reader witnessing an airline incident or accident through a throwaway character, an air traffic controller. The remainder of the story the protagonists try to figure out what happened. But this time, instead of being told in third person through the eyes of NTSB investigator Lori Masters and her airline instructor husband Kyle, I wrote Blamed from the point of view of Bill Kurz, the captain of the accident flight. Written in first person, I found it easy to put myself in his position and imagine what he’d go through.

Lori, from my previous novels, has a minor role in the story helping Bill uncover what really happened that left him crippled and killed his first officer. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dana Griffin novel without numerous organizations involved in the accident trying to absolve themselves of any blame.

I’m anxious to hear what readers think of the story.

Until I get the first chapter back from Susan, here is the blurb as a teaser. Look for more updates as I get closer to publishing.

Sphere Airlines captain, Bill Kurz, awakens trapped in the wreckage of the aircraft he’d been piloting that came to rest upside down. His last memory is putting the landing gear down on what would be a normal landing before an approaching thunderstorm closes the airport.

The NTSB and news media blame him and the deceased first officer, Ned Partin, for the accident that killed thirty-eight, and burned or severely injured ten.

Bill knows by experience from flying with Ned that they would have prevented the accident. While recovering from his debilitating injuries, Bill investigates why data that would exonerate him has disappeared. And why the NTSB cannot figure out there was something wrong with the rudder. And why his airline’s management thwarts his attempts to prove he shouldn’t be blamed.

Those who caused the accident will go to extreme lengths to assure Bill does not uncover their secret agenda.