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Investigator Frank Adams receives a call from an old college chum after a light aircraft crash on a Scottsville, North Carolina, hog farm. Adams returns to his small-town roots, where the shadow of the old South still lurks beneath the sunny veneer of the new South. Adams immediately senses that the accident attributed to Dr. Lanmore's age and physical condition may in reality be rooted in sabotage. Adams' former college chemistry professor, now a cancer researcher with an impressive record of success, desired that his work be made available to mankind, much to the consternation of local politicians and pharmaceutical company representatives determined to generate profits that could transform Scottsville's agricultural economy.
Meier's insight into the dynamics of rural North Carolina will leave readers with a sense that his protagonist is written as an alter ego and may have strong parallels with his own life. Adams braves insular small-town politics and a host of public and personal obstacles while he untangles the web of deceit that led not only to Dr. Lanmore's untimely death but to various incidents that spill out from the plane crash like the eddies of the riverine swamp surrounding Scottsville, where spirits and dark mysteries abound.
Author Meier's career in FAA aviation safety combined with his academic passion for history and literature often spurs him to explore flight tropes and historical themes with a moral imperative in his diverse novels. This second volume in the Frank Adams Investigator series is no exception. Well-defined, complex characters with a plethora of conflicts and an expert, yet light, touch of aviation jargon lend authenticity and surprising plot twists to this tightly written tale. Both character motivation and plot merge and meander in creative ways to drive this narrative to an all-too-human conclusion.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review
Meier's No Birds Sing Here was a 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist