Dead at the Take-Off

Lester Dent

Jan 2013 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

DIVChance Molloy pursues a crooked senator’s daughter aboard an airplane, but their flight is turbulent in more ways than one/divDIV
In the 1940s, air travel is still in its infancy. Seats turn into private sleepers, passengers smoke in flight, and it’s no sweat to carry weapons aboard. Chance Molloy, a self-made airline owner, is dealt a blow when his plans to establish a passenger airline in South America are thwarted by a corrupt US senator. At the news, Molloy’s brother, a partner in the venture, kills himself. Seeking some kind of justice, Molloy boards Flight 14 from New York to New Mexico with one goal in mind: to get acquainted with the senator’s daughter, Janet Lord, a passenger on the plane. But her charms are greater than he anticipates, and Molloy’s simple plan quickly becomes complicated./divDIV /divDIVAlso on board are three of the senator’s henchmen, a corpse disguised as a passenger, and Molloy’s stewardess ex-girlfriend. Soon Molloy realizes that this flight will reach a destination he hadn’t anticipated./div

About the author

DIVLester Dent (1904–1959) was born in La Plata, Missouri. In his mid-twenties, he began publishing pulp fiction stories, and moved to New York City, where he developed the successful Doc Savage Magazine with Henry Ralston, head of Street and Smith, a leading pulp publisher. The magazine ran from 1933 until 1949 and included 181 novel-length stories, of which Dent wrote the vast majority under the house name Kenneth Robeson. He also published mystery novels in a variety of genres, including the Chance Molloy series about a self-made airline owner. Dent’s own life was quite adventurous; he prospected for gold in the Southwest, lived aboard a schooner for a few years, hunted treasure in the Caribbean, launched an aerial photography company, and was a member of the Explorer’s Club.     /div