Caffeinated Reviewer

Sophia Rose is on the blog today with the first audiobook in the Katharine Wright Mysteries, To Slip the Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flowers. Grab a cuppa and see why she enjoyed about this historical mystery.

December 1903: While Wilbur and Orville Wright's flying machine is quite literally taking off in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with its historic fifty-seven second flight, their sister Katharine is back home in Dayton, Ohio, running the bicycle shop, teaching Latin, and looking after the family. A Latin teacher and suffragette, Katharine is fiercely independent, intellectual, and the only Wright sibling to finish college. But at twenty-nine, she's frustrated by the gender inequality in academia and is looking for a new challenge. She never suspects it will be sleuthing . . .

Returning home to Dayton, Wilbur and Orville accept an invitation to a friend's party. Nervous about leaving their as-yet-unpatented flyer plans unattended, Wilbur decides to bring them to the festivities . . . where they are stolen right out from under his nose. As always, it's Katharine's job to problem solve—and in this case, crime-solve. As she sets out to uncover the thief among their circle of friends, Katharine soon gets more than she bargained for: she finds her number one suspect dead with a letter opener lodged in his chest. It seems the patent is the least of her brothers' worries. They have a far more earthbound concern—prison. Now Katharine will have to keep her feet on the ground and put all her skills to work to make sure Wilbur and Orville are free to fly another day.

Sophia Rose’s Review

Orville and Wilbur Wright are the famous Wrights, but they had a brilliant, fiery, and equal rights-minded sister who in her own way would make local fame when she encounters a murder to solve.  I have seen Amanda Flowers’ cozy mysteries around and meant to try her work, but I stopped shuffling my shoes and grabbed it up quickly when I spotted her new, To Slip the Bonds of Earth, was to be a historical mystery featuring Katharine Wright, a shadowy historical figure I’d actually learned about during a historical reenactment.

Katharine Wright, a college-educated woman, sister to the currently infamous tinkering Wright brothers who believe they can achieve flight, and a serious-minded scholarly bishop for a father, who teaches at the local high school, will not tolerate being fobbed off with the beginner courses by the all-male school leadership or to be disrespected by a male student and she certainly won’t take any cheek from a male acquaintance acting mysteriously. 

Reluctantly, she ends up at a local wealthy family’s annual Christmas party with Wilbur, who recently succeeded in sustaining flight and has the currently unpatented plans of their successful plane in his pocket when they arrive. Cue ominous music…

Before they can get too up in anguish about the plans going missing and hunt down the would be suspected thief, the thief turns up dead and Katherine is certain the wrong people are suspected so she turns her great brain to a new conundrum- a murder mystery.

Katharine was quite the tartar and I enjoyed her sass when the school principal and other board members told her that an incompetent guy was getting the advanced Latin class over her and they pushed her off as the rep to the newly formed PTA thinking it was a woman’s job.  She also made a cocky jock in her class look bad when he smarted off to her.  And, that was all in a days’ work.

I appreciated how Amanda Flowers’ wrote the details of the Wright family characters- not just Katharine or Orville and Wilbur, their Dayton, Ohio town setting and brought the time period to life.  The event of the first flight happened off page, but was a catalyst for the story as the events unfolded since the brothers had to keep their flight’s success low key as they awaited the, then, long patenting process otherwise others who were racing to invent flight-able planes could steal and claim it as their own.  Katharine was not a lick jealous and was extremely supportive and proud of her brothers.  She wanted their success as if it were her own and helped them where she could.

Katharine is progressive, but she fit right in with the historical women’s movements of the time.  She was also a keen thinker and observer so made a good amateur sleuth when the murder cropped up and her own brother and a student ended up on the police’s radar. 

Madeleine Maby was a new to me narrator who made Katharine and her historical setting come alive.  She caught the tone of the story and handled the full cast of voices so they were distinct and done well.

Katharine’s personality was what really carried this book for me even more so than the murder mystery, but that was interesting too.  I suspected a little, but there were some dark things going on under the surface in Katharine’s town and she was strong enough to ferret it out and face it.  I’m so glad this will be a series.  Definitely recommend to historical mystery fans who like their mysteries nearer the cozy end of the spectrum.

Amazon | Audible

About Sophia Rose

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

Twitter | Goodreads

About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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