Death of a Lady Pilot

Women's Air Service (working title) is the third conceived book in the Eden Pond Series.

Overview

In 1943, as fears of invasion fade, the focus shifts to supporting the war effort both home and abroad. The U.S. Navy opens the Tillamook Naval Air Station to house blimps intended for air support of shipping convoys along the west coast. Tillie Larkin, pilot and close friend of Eden Pond, offers her services to the station, arguing as a longtime area pilot she knows the coves, bays, and waters of the Oregon coast from the air better than anyone. The commander of the air station reluctantly allows her to serve in an advisory capacity, helping to train the male pilots assigned to the station.

But before they’ll accept her as an advisor, the pilots want Tillie to prove her own skills. A longtime crop duster and barnstormer, Tillie gladly agrees to go up in her Travel Air E-4000 biplane and show them a few stunts—stuff that’ll make their ear hair curl. But as she clears the runway and starts to climb, the engine stalls and the biplane crashes, killing Tillie on impact.

The Navy is quick to write the crash off as pilot error, but Eden knew her friend was too skilled and experienced to make a careless mistake. She suspects something more sinister, perhaps even sabotage by military men who resented the presence of a woman pilot. With the help of her friend Deputy Allan Stern, she sets out to learn the truth about Tillie’s untimely end.

The events of the novel take place in August and September, 1943. Women's Air Service follows Murder at the Shipyard and precedes Fire Balloon.

Major Characters

• Eden Pond
• Merton Pond
• Allen Birch
• Clifford Stern
• Tillie Larkin