What’s buzzin’, cousin? Nope, no one’s in that seat. It’s all yours. Hi. My name is Betty Ahern. What am I doin’ on a bus this early? I’m heading to work. I help build the P39 Airacobra out at Bell Airplane in Wheatfield. You know, outside of Buffalo.

Why? Well, a girl’s gotta do something. See, my older brother, Sean, is stationed on the USS Washington out in the Pacific. My fiancé, Tom, is with the 1st Armored Division in North Africa. Least I think he’s out there. His last letter said so. Well, it didn’t say that specifically ’cause the censors would never let it through, but I’m sharp enough to read between the lines.

Anyway, I gotta do something or I’d go outta my mind with worry. Plus I’m not great at all that homemaker stuff. My younger sister, Mary Kate, is the homebody. I got two little brothers too, Jimmy and Michael. A good Irish-Catholic family living in Buffalo’s First Ward, that’s us. The money is helpful, too. I make over $30 a week at Bell. With the war on, stuff’s expensive. My pop works at Bethlehem Steel so between him and me, we keep the bills paid.

What’s my day like? They’re all about the same. I get up early and meet my friend, Dot Kilbride then we hoof it to the bus stop. We catch a ride out to Wheatfield, takes a couple of hours. Once I get to Bell, I get my assignment for the day. I’ve worked on just about every part of the plane, although usually I’m on the assembly line. Then I go home, have supper, hit the sack, and get up to do it again. I’m off every other Saturday and Sunday. I mean, the plant’s still open ’cause war production doesn’t stop for anything, but I get my day of rest.

Honestly, I’m a little worried though. Things have happened at Bell. Just the other day, there was a fire in the engines that get installed in the P39s. Not a real big fire, just a little one. They found a cigarette butt inside the engine, but no one would be dopey enough to smoke while she worked. I’m sure of it. Lots of folks are talking about Anne Linden. She’s this German girl who works at Bell. She’s kinda standoffish and no one likes her much, so naturally when folks started gabbing, they talked about Anne. It doesn’t help that her brother, George, belongs to the German-American Bund. You know, those nutters who like the Nazis. Well, that’s the rumor.

I wish Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe could look into it. Then we’d know the score and everyone could shut their yaps and get back to work. Hopefully that fire was an accident. But I got a funny feeling we’re in for more trouble. You’d better believe I’m keeping my peepers open. Last thing I need is for Bell to shut down. Just like everyone else, I need the dough – and the Army needs the planes.

Hey, this is my stop. It’s been nice talkin’ to ya. But I gotta go or Mr. Satterwaite, he’s the shift supervisor, will dock my pay. He isn’t a fan of women in the plant. Some people aren’t, including my mom. She’d rather I stayed home, like a proper young lady. But what’s Bell gonna do? All the men are off fightin’ Hitler and the Japanese. That leaves us girls. Because after all, those planes aren’t gonna build themselves.

The Enemy We Don’t Know is the first book in the NEW “Homefront” historical mystery series, released February 11, 2020.

November, 1942. Betty Ahern is doing her part for the war, working at Bell Aircraft while her older brother and fiancé are fighting overseas, but she really wants to be a private detective like her movie idol Sam Spade. When sabotage comes to the plant, and a suspected co-worker hires her to clear her name, Betty sees it as her big chance.

As her questions take her into Buffalo’s German neighborhood, Kaisertown, Betty finds herself digging into a group that is trying to resurrect the German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization. Have they elevated their activities past pamphlets and party-crashing?

When the investigation leads Betty and her two friends into a tangle of counterfeiting and murder, as well as the Bund, the trio must crack the case–before one or more of them ends up in the Buffalo River. . .wearing concrete overshoes.

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About the author
Liz Milliron is the author of The Laurel Highlands Mysteries series, set in the scenic Laurel Highlands and The Homefront Mysteries, set in Buffalo, NY during the early years of World War II. Heaven Has No Rage, the second in the Laurel Highlands Mysteries, was released in August 2019. The first book of the Homefront Mysteries, The Enemy We Don’t Know, was released in February 2020. Soon to be an empty-nester, Liz lives outside Pittsburgh with her husband, two children, and a retired-racer greyhound. Visit her website at lizmilliron.com.

All comments are welcomed.