The Current Upsurge of Women’s Power in the national news fits very nicely with what I tried to do with my Fourth Annie Tillery Mystery, The Mystery of the Lost Avenger.

The turn of events in the last year, focusing on empowering women to claim their equal rights, and to be judged on the merits of what they do, fits very nicely with the message I have incorporated in the Annie Tillery Mystey series. It’s so important for girls to realize their potential, to know they are smart, capable and talented.

In “The Mystery of the Lost Avenger” the reader travels back to 1943 and WWII where women took over the jobs men left behind when they shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific theaters of the war. The most famous image we have of that time is “Rosie the Riveter”, the defense plant worker, who kept the war materiales rolling off the assembly line and headed to the troops. Women served as pilots, nurses and in the armed services. When the war ended these women were not even given money to get them back home. Those who died in the service of their country did not receive the flag draped coffin ceremonies in Arlington National Cemetery their male counterparts did. Today, at the entrance of Arlington Cemetery, there is a Museum dedicated to Women in the Armed Services. It is one I will visit as soon as possible. I hope to leave them a book.

I did my best to convey to the girls who read the book how valuable the services of the brave WASPS, Women’s Air Service Pilots, was. I told that story in the midst of the mystery plot, Annie’s discovering her great grandmother’s past. It’s a story that appeals to all of us in that we want to know where we came from and what our ancestors did.

When I saw the cover on TIME, I chuckled at the use of the term, Avenger. For my book it was an airplane. For the story of today’s women, so much more.