Death of a Flying Nightingale: A Nightingale Mystery
Three very different young women serve as air ambulance nurses bravely flying into WWII combat zones risking their lives to evacuate the wounded. Irish Maeve joined the RAF after her fiancé was killed; streetwise Etta fled London's slums in search of a better life, and farm girl Betty enlisted to prevent the wounded from dying like her brother.
Newspapers have given these women a romantic nickname: "The Flying Nightingales." Not that there's anything romantic about what they do. The horrific injuries they encounter on a daily basis take their toll, so when one of the Nightingales is found dead, they wonder: Was it an accident? Suicide? Or something else?
After another nursing orderly dies mysteriously, they think: Someone's killing Nightingales. The friends grapple with their loss all while keeping a stiff upper lip and continuing to care for casualties as they're being strafed by the Luftwaffe.
Inspired by true events this novel is a tribute to a group of overlooked heroes who kept calm and carried on, while the fighting raged about them. These courageous women proudly did their bit for King and country and found solace and camaraderie in the lasting friendships forged in war.
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"Laura Jensen Walker honors The Flying Nightingales, the overlooked volunteer air ambulance nurses of World War II, in this riveting and affecting murder mystery. Walker deftly mixes the fear and terror of war with the humanity and courage of this remarkable Band of Sisters-creating a touching and heartfelt celebration of three "ordinary" women-who achieved the extraordinary." - Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times bestselling author of the Maggie Hope mysteries and Mother Daughter Traitor Spy
"Brimming with historical detail and layered with emotional depth, Death of a Flying Nightingale serves as both a cracking good mystery and tribute to the Flying Nightingales who risked their lives to bring the wounded boys of World War II safely home. I loved it!" - Melissa Amateis, WWII historian and author of The Stranger from Berlin
"With a gripping plot and a tender heart, Death of a Flying Nightingale transports the reader to Down Ampney Airfield in the throes of WWII and what a trip it is! Laugh and cry with these three splendid women, marvel at their bravery, cheer on their sleuthing, and simply luxuriate in the company of a writer who does both romantic and unflinching brilliantly." - Catriona McPherson, multi-award-winning author of In Place of Fear
"Laura Jensen Walker vividly captures the challenges of serving in WWII as air ambulance nurses for the Royal Air Force in this immersive fictional tribute. Here is a deserving novel of these wartime heroines that has been just waiting to be told." - Susan Meissner, USA TODAY bestselling author of Only the Beautiful
"Death of a Flying Nightingale by Laura Jensen Walker is a captivating story of courage and heartbreak as three disparate women find friendship and love during the last perilous year of the Second World War. Readers of historical fiction will revel in the period detail and atmosphere." - Marty Wingate, author of the London Ladies' Murder Club
"Walker does a splendid job of bringing the little-known Flying Nightingales to life in this novel. You'll applaud the grit and determination of the young women who risked their lives for the war effort. Bravo!" - Joyce St. Anthony, author of the Homefront News Mysteries (Front Page Murder and Death on a Deadline)
"Brave beyond measure, those Flying Nightingales. Their service and sacrifices in the war forgotten all too soon. It is incredible to meet these young women now-to be there for their journey every step of the way. I didn't want to leave them when the story ended."- Major General Meri K. Eder, U.S. Army Retired, Author of The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line - Untold Stories of the Women who Changed the Course of World War II
