I must tell you; it is not easy to be the sister of two inventors. I try to keep the house as neat and tidy as possible but is near impossible with my older brothers Wilbur and Orville constantly making a mess of things. There are always books, bits of paper, and tools about the house. They are always tinkering. I know it would be made even worse if they didn’t have the bicycle shop where they did most of their work. Even so, it infuriates me as I don’t have much time in the day to pick up after them. This is especially true during the school year when I have Latin classes to teach and papers to mark.

I miss them terribly when they are in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina experimenting with their flying machines, but it is much easy to keep the house up while they are away and it’s just our father and myself that I have to pick up after. However, when they are gone, that causes new difficulties for me. I have to manage the bicycle shop as my brothers will not take on a patron or accept a donation of any sort to fund their flying experiments. The shop must be successful to support their creations. This means I have to work with Charlie Taylor, their machinist. I don’t care for Charlie in the least. He is crude and rude, and worst of all, he smokes like a chimney. I find smoking to be a terrible habit.

Most of my day while the boys are away entails getting up early to arrive at school early, so that I can look over my lessons before the students arrive. Then, I have a full day of teaching Latin. I do enjoy teaching, but at times, it can be a challenge to keep the older boys in line. Thankfully, I have a reputation in the school for being a strict teacher. It’s a persona I have to take on as a young woman to earn the students’ respect. After school, I go home and check in with Father before heading to the bicycle shop to go over the accounts and correspondence, and then back home for dinner. Thankfully, I have hired help with the cleaning and cooking out of my teaching salary. I don’t know how I would do it all without her. Carrie Kayler is a godsend.

I have always been loyal, and I will always be loyal to my family. It was promise I made to my father and my brothers when Mother died when I just fifteen. I’m so proud of my brothers, and I have no doubt at all they will be the first in flight!

To Slip the Bonds of Earth, A Katharine Wright Mystery Book #1
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: March 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

While not as famous as her older siblings Wilbur and Orville, the celebrated inventors of flight, Katharine Wright is equally inventive – especially when it comes to solving crimes – in USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower’s radiant new historical mystery series inspired by the real sister of the Wright Brothers.

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.

About the author
Amanda Flower is the USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning mystery author of over twenty-five novels, including the nationally bestselling Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series, the Amish Matchmaker Mysteries, the Katharine Wright Mysteries, and several series written under the name Isabella Alan. An organic farmer and former librarian, Amanda lives in Northeast Ohio and can be found online at AmandaFlower.com.