Broken Eagle

Crusading Raleigh, N.C., attorney Jake Baird, the hero of Crouse’s exciting debut thriller, swore off handling military air-crash cases after nearly being bankrupted by the last two he handled. But despite the financial risk and his experience that it was nearly impossible to “take on the military and its big government contractors and win,” Jake agrees to help the widow of Samuel Thorpe, a Marine pilot who died during a test flight of the XV-11 (aka the Sea Eagle), which combines features of airplanes and helicopters. Aided by attractive attorney Madison Wright (“a bulldog, but a damned sexy one”), Jake undertakes an investigation at great personal risk. A mystery man aids his search for the truth about the XV-11 by handing him a classified file containing evidence that the manufacturer knew of the aircraft’s design flaws. Fans of David-versus-Goliath stories will be satisfied. (BookLife)