Even though much of this story was very sad and horrific; the mystery, the "who done it", kept me going when all I wanted to do was sit and cry. Like all historical fiction books, I used this book to guide to discover more about World War Two.

If you have not read much about the Flying Nightingales this story is a great beginning. The author takes the reader into the lives of the brave women and men that flew on Dakotas. Their job was to bring back injured soldiers that need extensive care and surgeries. They kept them breathing. They dressed their wounds. They kept them calm as they doled out tea and comfort.

The story centers on a hut of ladies as they work and live together. There are numerous personalities and the gals come from a wide range of demographics. All those different women created lots and lots of drama. I always enjoy being a fly on the wall, but these gals were super entertaining.

The Flying Nightingales not only had to deal with the dangers of war but be wary of someone trying to kill them. Not much is known. Those in command aren't saying much. Don't go out alone just doesn't seem enough. I had my suspicions. Some of the characters had their own ideas.

I thought I had the mystery solved. I was wrong. The characters were wrong. The ending left me speechless. I was in shock. Truths silence me.

And the I read the epilogue. I closed the book in tears, wanting to learn as much as can about these brave dedicated war heroes.

Interesting read, different angle of many WW2 stories but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I always enjoy the WW2 setting but adding a mystery gave it a very differen type of read.

I always enjoy WW2 novels. This one was a little different in there was a mystery to solve as well as the war going on. I really enjoyed it..I loved all the characters, especially Etta!

Historical Fiction Mystery set in England 1944 featuring three very different women serving as WWII air ambulance nurses as they turn sleuth after a fellow nursing orderly dies mysteriously.

1/5 stars: This is the first entry in Jensen Walker's Nightingale Mystery series which is a Historical Fiction Mystery set in 1944 England featuring three very different women, an Irishwoman; a streetwise Londoner and a farm girl, serving as WWII air ambulance nurses as they team up to uncover the truth behind a fellow nursing orderly's mysterious death. I will say the mystery doesn't really get cooking until about 40%. This is more a historical fiction novel with a bit of a murder mystery plot but as I enjoyed the characters and subject matter I kept reading. Told in multiple POV, Jensen Walker's character work's nicely done; the characters are well-rounded and incredibly likable. Be warned, Jensen Walker touches on some very tough and sensitive topics, so take care and the CWs. Even though, I liked learning about this group of overlooked female WWII heroes and I could tell Jensen Walker did a lot of research I hated the reveal at 88% which lead me to DNF the book. Very disappointing.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Level Best Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

4.5 gladly rounded up to 5.

Death of a Flying Nightingale is the best of two worlds: historical fiction and murder mystery.

Although I knew of the existence of the Flying Nightingales is was very interesting to read and learn more about this courageous group of women who served as air ambulance nurses as the wounded were evacuated to safety during WW2

The mystery of who murdered one was the icing on the cake and cranked up the tension.

Mauve, Betty and Etta are three stand out Nightingales that the story revolves around.

I cheered them all on , I cried with them all, I worried about them but most of all I admired their strength, determination and tenacity.

Laura Jensen Walker writes a very well written and researched book on the Flying Nightingales that is so atmospheric I felt I was on the flights with them.

Please take time to read the author's note at the end as they add so much to the book and were really appreciated.

Thanks to NetGalley and Level Best Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles for the privilege of reading and reviewing this wonderful book.

I started this book in the afternoon thinking I’d read just a bit of it and then couldn’t stop until I finished it. More historical fiction than mystery, I was excited to learn more about these amazing women in WWII flying wounded soldiers out of battlefields. Each Nightingale had their own storyline which was done well with the mystery being part of the book but not the main focus. Each woman had their own past to deal with and needed to confront their own insecurities or trauma to do their job efficiently. I can say that I laughed out loud a couple of times and cried too. I wrote down the books the Author mentioned and now want to read more about these amazing women who were forgotten for so many years! Great book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

During the post-D-Day era of World War 2, a group of brave women helped evacuate wounded Allied soldiers across the English Channel to British hospitals. They were known as Flying Nightingales, and this is a fictional account of their heroic efforts. Filled with interesting historic details and anecdotes adapted from true stories, this book is perfect for fans of World War 2 historical fiction. The notes at the end of the book are especially interesting, offering facts that formed the basis for the story.

What an amazing story based on the lives of real heroes!
The first time that I had heard of women accompanying flights to nurse soldiers was a book by Soraya Lane about the Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron. I remember thinking that for someone who devours any book set during WW2, how had I not heard of these medics before?
When I read this book, not only did it contain stories from a group I had never heard of but they were my countrymen too. I devoured it like I would toast with Betty's mum's jam!

The 3 female leads had strong distinguishable characters and were extremely likable. I followed their stories hoping for their happy endings and feeling every high and low right along with them. I enjoyed a lot of the secondary characters and feel like everyone had endings that I would want for them. The Sister is one character that I feel didn't get the consequences that I thought her indiscretions would and should give her.

The story flowed so well and didn't get slow or dull in any section. It was very well written and I feel the author had done a tremendous amount of research in preparation for such a seamlessly written book. I'm not quite sure that the title is the right fit for the story as it refers to a singular Nightingale. Maybe Death of THE Flying Nightingales would be more accurate, and if I'm honest, more of a draw. The fact that this is the start of a series is very exciting. Maybe the next books will be based at different bases to the Down Ampney crew.

I appreciate any book that highlights heroic actions or people. Especially so, when so little is published about them already. Reading the authors note at the end and hearing how so much of it was based on true memoirs from the Nightingales, made me feel closer and more appreciative of these brave women. I loved the little Easter Eggs that were included. It makes the characters even more real when they act through history that we know is real. I am very interested in exploring what else Laura Jensen Walker has written.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a chance to read a copy. All opinions expressed are my own. This has been reviewed on Goodreads, Storygraph and will be on Amazon.

Unfortunately, I could not get far into this due to content I was personally uncomfortable with. I won’t say any more than that.

Irish, WW2, PTSD, nursing-care, exhausting, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-romance, historical-setting, history-and-culture, engrossing, murders, local-law-enforcement, military-law*****

After D-Day there were thousands of wounded soldiers needing flight transport back to England for more restorative care and the Flying Nightingales were there to provide care. They were all called orderlies (now trained practical nurses of either gender). This was as strenuous and exhausting calling then as now. One night the group of Nightingales on their way to a dance came upon one of their own strangled and left at the side of the road. This is where the mystery is added to the personal stories of the young women and it is very well done. The characters are so well done and engaging that it is easy to identify with them and the varied branches of the tale held my interest strongly. I await the next one!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Level Best Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles via NetGalley. Thank you!
#NightingaleMysteryBk1of3 Available Sep 10, 2024

Slightly mixed feelings about this book. The romances were all very sweet, including one which I wasn't really expecting to actually play out as it did (without wishing to give spoilers, I was fully bracing myself for disappointment, and ended up doing a happy cry instead.The cast of characters were also mostly strongly characterised, and I enjoyed 'getting to know' them all.

The stories of the nursing orderlies' work was an interesting (and apparently based in a decent bit of research although I'm sure there was some embellishment as there always will be in historical fiction) look into the types of things that went on. But there was a bit of a disjointed feel to it, there were some 'subplots' that ran through the book (the romances, the deaths of the three women, and so on) but there didn't really feel like there was much of an overarching plot, just a series of vignettes of their life in the last year of the war.

The mystery element (which I rather assumed would be the central plot, with one or more of the main characters involved in investigation, given the title makes it sound like a murder mystery) felt very underdone - someone dies, nothing much happens about it, everyone gets on with things, someone else dies, rinse, repeat. If I had been looking primarily for a murder mystery (rather than being someone who enjoys general historical fiction set in this time period) I would have been rather let down, although as it's barely even a subplot, I suppose it doesn't matter too much that the mystery part isn't much of one?

Additionally, there are a number of Americanisms ('scooch over', 'cold-cocked') which as a modern English reader I understand well enough, but which don't really feel fitting to British/Irish characters in this time period (I can't imagine my grandmother saying 'jerk' or 'your hair's gotten mussed'), and there's also a moment where the Irish character finds a fridge in a rural cottage she's staying in and is entirely blasé about it - I am not 100% certain how common they were in 1940s Ireland, but as far as I can find out, only about 2% of homes in Britain had a fridge at that time, so I'd expect, well, no fridge, but if there was a fridge, I'd expect her to be a bit impressed or surprised at least! (My understanding is that closer to 50% of US homes at that time had fridges, so I would guess the author simply has a different cultural context on that and it didn't occur to her that people in Britain and Ireland might not have been so used to seeing them! Which is fair enough, but still)

And yet, in spite of all that complaining I just did I'm glad I read this book, and the author's note at the end was a nice overview of the research she did. Plus, who doesn't love a book with an Audrey Hepburn easter egg?

The amazing and sad story of a group of ‘Flying Nightingales’, what we’d call EMTs during WWII, and their journey through the war. The mystery was more a side to the romances, but that didn’t make this story any less wonderful.

This book was so interesting! A Flying Nightingale was a nursing orderly in WWII. It was an aspect of the war effort that was new to me. It continues to amaze me that the war effort was so all-consuming, it is something that I can’t truly fathom since I haven’t been through one. Besides the historical fiction, there is a mystery to be solved in this one, and I think the ending is satisfying. I will definitely read this author again.

The Flying Nightingales are a group of air ambulance nurses tasked with looking after the wounded soldiers left behind as WWII casualties. Often overlooked by history, this book gives a glimpse into the lives of the Nightingales in and out of war, the essential supportive roles they played, the relationships they formed, love they found, and the tragedies that they suffered.

I was not overly impressed by this book. It book barely qualifies as a mystery novel and only describes the role of the Flying Nightingale's in WWII in a basic surface level sense. It's more accurate to describe this book as a romance novel with a WWII setting. The character's backgrounds and personalities are interesting, but they lack depth and nuance. Overall this book is very fluffy and light except for a few instances of explicit scenes mostly including descriptions of injury and graphic descriptions of rape. It did not fulfill the promises of being a gritty description of the Nightingale's war duties or building an interesting mystery. However this might be a good story for someone who likes wholesome romances and happy endings set on a background of war.

The book starts out quite strong with great descriptions of the Nightingales doing their jobs on the Dakota planes and treating the injured soldiers. It was really impactful to hear about the emotional impact that seeing all of the injured soldiers has on the nurses and how that impacts their psyches. Unfortunately that side of the story falls to the wayside incredibly early and we no longer accompany the ladies on their flights. We get very brief single sentence descriptions that they had been on a jump across the channel and that was it. I found this really disappointing because hearing about the nurses important and often forgotten jobs on the planes was what originally drew me to this book. Similarly the mystery aspect of the story was incredibly underdeveloped and really had no place being in this story as it is. Several of the Nightingale's die under mysterious circumstances, but the remaining characters do not do anything to investigate their deaths.

Despite my personal feelings towards this book, I absolutely think that this could be a good book for a certain kind of reader. If you are looking for a feel good story where the characters experience and grow from traumatic experiences, but the trauma itself is not extensively described. If you want a story of people overcoming past traumas to find loving relationships and happiness. If you want to read a story set in a war, but you don't want to read about the nitty gritty details then this book is for you! The romances are sweet! The bonds built between the women are fun to read about. It's great that the book is bringing attention to a group of women who played an essential role in the war that have gone unrecognized to this point. But it's not a mystery novel and it's not a war story.

Thank you to Netgalley, Level Best Books, and IBPA for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

Based loosely on true accounts, Garth of a Flying Nightingale , by Laura Jensen Walker, tells the story of the young women who flew in and out of war zones to bring wounded soldiers home. They were orderlies, some as young as 17, who cared for the wounded as they were transported. Not a single man died while in their care. While the writing is not the best, the story is amazing. I was able to read an ARC on #NetGalley.

On the positive side, it's intersting to see D-Day and the year that follows from a different point of view. In this case, several points of view. And beyond a simple historical "review", there's an interesting mystery underlying the plot.

However, it's that mystery that I didn't particularly follow. Someone's killing Nightingales. Maeve and Betty and Etta are the Nightingales being stalked, and working, and also solving the mystery. The girls joke about Miss Marple, but that's what it felt like, a bit.

I originally requested this book because of the cover and the synopsis. I'm a fan of history so I was intrigued by the topic because I have never heard of the Flying Nightingales before, even though I took several WWII classes in my life.
I personally am not a fan of multiple POV books, however, I did enjoy getting to know Maeve, Betty and Etta. I think a lot of women's stories from WWII get pushed to the side, but I think it's important to bring them to light.

I wouldn't say this is a historical mystery, I would name it as a cozy read. At the moment, I am not a big fan of this book, which is absolutely no ones fault but my own, I'm just not in the historical novel mood. The beginning started off great, however, along the way it fell flat for me. I became bored with the flight missions and no longer felt interested in the book, unfortunately, but it did spark an interest enough for me to look up the actual Flying Nightingales.

I would like to give this a 2.5/5 stars. Hopefully when it's published, I will be in a better mood to reread it!

I absolutely loved this book. I feel like women working on the battlefield in the World War Eras are often forgotten in comparison to other stories, and seeing women working on the battlefield was a nice change, I really enjoyed the suspense of the book, and I always left it wishing I could just continue the book rather than going back to my daily activities. The characterizations are strong, but I did have some trouble distinguishing certain characters from others since they were introduced in short frequency, and all had very long chapters detailing their lives and experiences. That being said, I most definitely would recommend this book to any historical fiction lover or suspense reader.

I had never heard of the flying nightingales and I love learning new things about the WW2. These ladies were really brave! And the murders were a great addition to this book. Although I loved the rare times something different happend after landing.
Also, the different perspectives were great and you really get to know these women.
I did have an issue with this book: it became really repetitive. Lots of details about the characters and what they did on the flights got repeated a lot of times.
The absolute best part about this book: the author did such a great job with the epilogue! The feeling put into this part of the book was really amazing!

I hadn't heard much about the flying nightingales before so this was a super interesting book to read. Hearing about these incredible women and how their fictional counterparts were written was really enjoyable and moving. I loved the way the story progressed and I really enjoyed the twists! Also being able to read about some of the real flying nightingales in the authors notes was such a cool experience.

I absolutely loved this book!