To Slip the Bonds of EarthTo Slip the Bonds of Earth

"December 1903. Wilbur and Orville Wright's flying machine has taken off -- literally -- with a historic fifty-seven second flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Meanwhile, back home in Dayton, Ohio, their sister, Katharine, a Latin teacher, is manning the brothers' bicycle shop and looking after the family -- as she has since their mother died when Katharine was a teenager... Fiercely independent, intellectual, and the only Wright sibling to finish college, twenty-nine-year-old Katharine is frustrated by the gender inequality in academia and is eager for a new challenge. She never suspects it will be sleuthing... Wilbur and Orville return to Dayton, where Wilbur accepts an invitation to a friend's Christmas party. Nervous about leaving the as-yet-unpatented flyer plans at home 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."--Book jacket.