Dead at the Take-Off

By Lester Dent

Chance Molloy pursues a crooked senator's daughter aboard an airplane, but their flight is turbulent in more ways than one.

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.

Also 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784084202

Lester Dent

Lester 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.