Book Club “To Slip the Bonds of Earth”
For February we decided to read an author we LOVE. We had previously enjoyed another of Amanda Flower’s historical cozy mysteries (Because I Could Not Stop for Death, an Emily Dickison Mystery) at our book club last year and we expected to enjoy reading about the Wright Brother’s less famous sister.
Book
To Slip the Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flower
Description:
The Agatha Award-winning mystery inspired by the Wright Brothers’ real-life sister!
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 this radiant historical mystery by USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower.
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.
Club
Snack suggestions:
There are many ways that you could approach snacks for this book! You could try your hand and 1900s thoroughfare or attempt the cookies Katherine made in the story, knowing yours might turn out better. You could also lean into the flying elements or have fun with making FLIGHTS of food.
We opted for a cloud-like theme and chose snacks that reminded us of clouds. We served a white pizza, but it really was the vanilla meringues that succeeded in the desired effect.
Check out Cozy Crimes’ book club questions that can be used for any mystery.
Here are our questions targeted to To Slip the Bonds of Earth:
1. How familiar were you with the historical elements of the book, such as the Wright Brothers flight and the early 1900s? How did this influence your reading of the book?
2. What did you know of Katherine Wright prior to reading this book? What do you think of her as a character and a sleuth?
3. What are Katherine’s primary motivations for solving the mystery?
4. How much did the historic flight play into the storyline for this mystery? How was technology viewed by the different characters?
5. How were the different social classes portrayed in the book? How did this influence the characters and the town?
6. Do you have any sympathy for the killer(s)? How did you feel about the victim?
7. Who were you suspicious of as you read the book? What clues did you pick up on that lead to the final answer?
8. How did the holidays influence the story?
9. What did you think of the Shaw family? Did your feelings toward any of them change as the story progressed?
10. Would you read another book in this series? Are there any historic points that you expect will appear later in a future book?
