Chosen from 14,570 entries as one of ten finalists in ProWritingAid's Novel Beginnings contest, the 1951 Cold War espionage mystery is available now as a standalone read and as the second entry in the Blood & Bourbon Mystery Files.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM, July 16, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Blood Wing: A Cold War Noir Thriller, named one of ten finalists in the inaugural ProWritingAid Novel Beginnings Contest, is now available in eBook and paperback from Daniel P. Douglas. It is the second entry in Jack Morrison's Blood & Bourbon Mystery Files, following Blood Tide: A Harbor Noir Thriller.
Blood Wing follows ex-LAPD detective turned private detective Jack Morrison as he investigates the death of a Black night-shift janitor at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach in January of 1951. The company calls it an industrial accident and closes the file without ever interviewing the widow. The family hires Morrison because the dead man's brother once shared a foxhole with him in Italy in 1944 during the Gothic Line campaign. Some debts do not expire.
What Morrison uncovers behind the plant's windowless concrete walls is a Cold War espionage operation, and a murder the federal government will classify into official nonexistence before it can be proved. The widow who refuses to accept a lie, and the federal prosecutor who can pursue the spying but cannot restore the man who died, stand at the center of a story about what justice means when the official record will never tell the truth. The investigation moves through the McCarthy era and the Lavender Scare, the period purge of suspected homosexuals from federal and defense employment.
Selected from 14,570 entries worldwide, Blood Wing advanced through a longlist of 183 to a shortlist of ten finalists judged on opening pages, voice, and character. The contest is run by ProWritingAid, the writing-software and education company.
"Being a finalist for the Novel Beginnings Contest is one of the most meaningful moments in my writing life," Douglas said. "I'm grateful to ProWritingAid, the contest readers, and the judges for recognizing Blood Wing."
A novella of roughly 25,000 words, Blood Wing is a complete story readable in a single sitting. It requires no prior reading and works as an entry point to the series. Readers who want Morrison's first case can find it in Blood Tide, set on the Los Angeles waterfront.
About the Author
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 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. Daniel P. Douglas was named a 2014 Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book-of-the-Year Award Finalist in Science Fiction and is a Readers' Favorite Award winner. Phillip lives in the greater Albuquerque, New Mexico area.
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