I recently picked up a pair of books from Matthew Bieniek: Barnstormers: The Adventures of Kiki and Bridget. Set in 1925 during the post-World War I barnstormer era, this is the kind of story we might have gotten in the aviation pulps.
The series focuses on a pair of young pilots with their own Curtiss Jenny plane. Book One came out in 2019 and Book Two in 2020. A third and final volume will hopefully come out in 2026. The author also has a series of books with his characters, the Sleep Detectives.
We are introduced to our heroes, Kristina “Kiki” Hansen and Bridget Doyle, as they perform in a flying circus in New Jersey. While both are pilots, Bridget prefers the mechanics of the planes.
The flying circus is performing next to an aircraft factory. One night, they see lights in the building and know it’s not the guard, so they go to investigate. They find one of the flying circus members stealing plans and have an altercation, during which he sets things on fire after spreading aviation fuel around. Thankfully, they are rescued by others from the flying circus. Strangely, they give an edited version of what happened to the police and a more detailed report to the owner of the airplane factory.
The next day, as Bridget is giving rides in the plane, one passenger sabotages the plane and jumps out into the ocean. Kiki, in another plane, is able to rescue her, and they confront the men who did this, only for the police to arrest them. Then we learn what is going on when they reveal they are undercover agents of the ICPO (International Criminal Police Organization), which would later be known as Interpol. They are on the trail of a criminal syndicate that is moving into aviation-related businesses, especially as it relates to airmail. This syndicate is headed by someone known only as the “Belgian.”
On their mission, they are next sent to Pennsylvania to speak with someone who might know the identity of the Belgian, only to have a run-in with the Belgian’s agents. Actually, they have several run-ins, as they get to the witness first, and when they head out with what evidence they have, they are waylaid. Heading to Hog Island near Philadelphia, they get a new Jenny and head to Cleveland, Ohio. Along the way, they help rescue an airmail pilot who had to bail out.
In Cleveland, Kiki is working as a crop duster while Bridget is working as a secretary in an aircraft factory that is developing a new carburetor. But again, the Belgian’s syndicate tries to take control. This leads to some hair-raising escapades to stop them. Thankfully, Kiki and Bridget are assisted by agents of the Bureau of Investigation, which would later be known as the FBI.
In the end, it’s clear that while they don’t know who the Belgian is, he is certainly aware of them.
Volume Two has our two heroes heading to the Chicago area, where they meet up with an old college friend, Vivian, who wants to become a reporter. They have incidents with gangsters and agents of the Belgian, as there are attempts at sabotaging their plane.
It seems that the Belgian’s syndicate is changing its tactic to buying up small airfields used for airmail, then going after the manufacturers. Kiki meets a young man and goes on a date with him, and they have a run-in with some gangsters that leads to a meeting with Frank Nitti.
Things seem to come to a head when, after they report to a BOI agent, another agent approaches them with concerns. After the massacre that occurs at a business they believe is connected to the foreign syndicate, the girls head to St. Louis.
After a strange encounter on their way to St. Louis, they apply to join a flying circus. But it also appears that the local head of the syndicate is aware of them and is watching them. While there, they meet Charles Lindbergh, who at the time was starting to be an airmail pilot. This time, the bad guys grab Kiki to pressure Bridget to sabotage the airmail planes of the local company so it will lose its contract. Will they succeed, or will Kiki escape?
I look forward to the next volume. As the two girls are waiting to head to California, will they be able to get there in that volume? We will see.
This series, to me, seems similar to what I might see in the pulps, either the aviation pulps or one of the general adventure titles. The story moves along quickly, and the action seems realistic.
I don’t have much knowledge of aviation or planes of that era, so I hope what we read is accurate. Most aviation pulp stories were often written by actual pilots. I look forward to the third and what is supposed to be the final volume in this storyline.
Will the author have more to say about these characters? I have no idea. But this one is certainly worth checking out.
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