June 1999, Phoenix, Arizona

My father’s request couldn’t have come at a worse time. He called me one morning to say his B24, the flying Liberator he had jumped out of during the Second World War, had been located. I had heard the story since I’d been a little girl, so I wasn’t surprised when the first words I heard on the phone that day were, “Kat, they found my plane!”

I knew exactly what Dad was talking about.

What I didn’t know, was how his news was about to change my life. Turned out Dad had received a letter in the mail from a young man living in Budapest, Hungary who, now that the Iron Curtain had fallen, had written to say he had found my father’s plane, and did my father want to fly to Hungary to see it?

No. . .

Dad couldn’t go, the last couple of years he had been ill and was in no position to travel. Instead, he wanted me to go. And not just to photograph the plane, but to seek out his rescuers. One of whom he tells me now—fifty years after the fact—that I was named after.

It was a lot to process. But how could I say no? Dad couldn’t go, and, as he aptly pointed out, “What do you have to stick around Phoenix for? It’s July, one-twenty in the shade and it’s not like you got a job or husband to go home to.”

He didn’t need to remind me. On a personal level, things hadn’t been good…but, we don’t need to go there right now. What mattered was, Dad needed me. It was the least I could do.

But Hungary? I had never traveled internationally, and I was skeptical from the start that this trip to see my dad’s downed bomber might be some type of senior rip-off scam. I’m a journalist by trade and I had reported on a number of scams targeting the elderly. None of which ended well. But dad was convinced the young man was on the level, and the man volunteered to act as my tour guide. So, what did I have to worry about?

More than I can tell you in this quick missive. But I hope you’ll get a chance to read The Navigator’s Daughter, what happened changed my life.

The Navigator’s Daughter, A Kat Lawson Mystery #1
Genre: Traditional
Release: June 2022
Purchase Link

Getting caught in the middle of an international art theft ring wasn’t supposed to be part of the deal Kat Lawson made with her dying father. But when her father receives a mysterious letter informing the former WW2 navigator/bombardier that his downed B-24 has been found and asking him to come to Hungary, Kat suspects this is all part of some senior rip-off scam. Her father insists she go, not only to photograph the final resting place of his plane but also to find the mother and son who risked their lives to rescue him and hid him in a cave beneath an old Roman fortress. Kat’s trip uncovers not only the secrets of the cave where her father hid and of those who rescued him, but a secret that will forever change the direction of her life—that is—if she can get home safely.

About the author
Nancy Cole Silverman spent nearly twenty-five years in news and talk radio, beginning her career in college on the talent side as one of the first female voices on the air. Later on the business side in Los Angeles, she retired as one of two female general managers in the nation’s second-largest radio market. After a successful career in the radio industry, Silverman retired to write fiction. Her short stories and crime-focused novels—the Carol Childs and Misty Dawn Mysteries,(Henry Press) are both Los Angeles-based. Her newest series, The Navigator’s Daughter, (Level Best Books) takes a more international approach. Silverman lives in Los Angeles with her husband and a thoroughly pampered standard poodle.

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