Homefront Mystery

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.

It's December 1942 and Betty Ahern is enjoying her fledgling career as a private detective, investigating everything from missing jewelry to wandering boyfriends. But when Bell Airplane co-worker Emilia Brewka, whose grandmother recently died, wants Betty to prove the death was murder and not natural causes, Betty thinks Emilia's grief has her seeing things that aren't there. After a member of the visiting Polish government in exile is murdered, she learns the grandmother may have contacted him about a secret involving a wealthy Buffalo family-a secret that goes all the way back to the Old Country and the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war. Suddenly, murder looks more than possible. Betty and her friends travel between Buffalo's working-class neighborhoods and the city's high society, determined to unearth the secret and find justice for Emmie's grandmother. But mixing with the upper class quickly becomes dangerous and potentially deadly-both for Betty's career as a detective and herself.

March 1943. As the Buffalo winter ends, the father of Betty Ahern's friend, Lee Tillotson, disappears. At first his absence is a relief, providing Lee, his mother and sisters refuge from the man's frequent drunken rages. But when Mr. Tillotson is discovered drowned in the Buffalo River and the police charge Lee with the murder, the family's newfound peace shatters. Worse, Lee becomes secretive and unwilling to cooperate with Betty or the police. Betty is certain of Lee's innocence, but there she has very little time to investigate before he must enter his plea in court. To prove Lee's innocence, Betty digs into Mr. Tillotson's life, discovering a seamy and dangerous underside to Mr. Tillotson, and to Buffalo itself. With time running out, Betty soon learns who her friends really are, how much Lee loves his family and friends and is loved in return, and just how far the corruption leaking from Buffalo's City Hall has reached. But can she prove Lee's innocence before it's too late?

May 1943. Betty Ahern is studying for her private investigator's license when a new client-Edward Kettle-hires her to clear his name after he was dismissed from his job at the American Shipbuilding Company. When Edward is brutally murdered, the dead man's sister hires Betty to finish the original job and find the killer. The job hurls Betty back into the world of wartime espionage, but with a twist: Edward Kettle was a homosexual. Did he know something about underhanded activities at American Shipbuilding? Or was his secret life the motive for murder? Once again, Betty must unravel the mystery, which requires uncovering truths that others would prefer to keep hidden-a job that threatens not only her morals and beliefs, but also her life.

September, 1943 Things are looking up for P.I. Betty Ahern. She's hired a part-time employee and is on the lookout for an office from which she can run her private investigation firm. She's also getting a reputation throughout Buffalo as someone who will help anybody, regardless of class or ethnicity. And her fiancé, Tom, is home from the war. But Tom is badly injured, angry, and not the person Betty agreed to marry. When Tom is found over a dead body, the situation goes from bad to worse. The victim is the brother of Betty's latest client, a boy who may have been involved in some shady activities. Tom swears he's innocent and hires Betty to clear his name. It's a sticky situation-not only are the two cases a conflict between for her, but she knows Tom is also not being entirely honest. Betty's investigation leads her into the city's Black neighborhood and the conflict between the area's leading criminal gangs. Can she find the murderer, clear Tom's name, and save her engagement? Or will she and Tom become the killer's next victims?

June, 1943 Betty Ahern isn't a novice PI anymore. After solving several dangerous cases, she is hired for what she hopes will be simpler one. A soldier home from Europe on medical furlough wants her to find his birth mother. Left at a church and raised an orphan at Father Baker's Home for Boys, his only clue is a silver St. Christopher medal with a French inscription on the back. Betty tracks down the unmarried daughter of a wealthy businessman who mysteriously vanished from society for several months in the early 1920s. Against her better judgment, Betty tells her client, who rushes off to meet her. But when the woman is found murdered, and her client is arrested for the crime, Betty must switch from locating a missing mother to clearing his name. Aided by some new partners, Betty once again delves into the secrets of Buffalo's elite. What she finds threatens to rip open secrets long buried. Can she find a killer and reunite a family? Or will the hunt cost Betty and her client everything, including their lives?