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Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess #2
Vicki Finds the Answer
In Book 2 of the Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess series, Vicki Barr is now a graduate of the Federal Airlines Stewardess School or, a "proud possessor of a career in the clouds." On a flight to New York, Vicki meets a troubled passenger named Joan Purnell. Reluctantly, Joan confides in Vicki that she is running away from home because her father is in debt and may lose his lumber business. Vicki convinces Joan to stay with her aunt that night, promising to take her back home the next day. Determined to help her new friend, Vicki persuades hot shot pilot Dean to fly her out to the Purnell's lumbermill in Norfolk, Virginia. There Vicki discovers that Mr. Purnell's partner is sending shipments of lumber via more expensive routes than necessary, creating false losses in an attempt to pressure Joan's father into selling his half the business. Vicki has no proof of her suspicions and must work quickly before Mr. Parnell loses everything and before Joan does something rash in an attempt to help her father...
211 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1947
About the author
Helen Wells
113 books76 followersOriginal name: Helen Weinstock. Social worker turned full-time young adult writer, born in Illinois but moved with family to New York City when she was seven. In 1934 Wells graduated from New York University [where she'd been the first female editor of the literary quarterly], with a major in philosophy and a minor in sociology and psychology.
During World War II, she served as a volunteer with the State Department's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, escorting Latin American visitors in the United States.
Author of Cherry Ames, Nurse books, a series for young teens.
She was also the author of the Vicki Barr books, about a young mystery-solving flight attendant. And, as Francine Lewis, she penned the short-lived Polly French series (1950s), aimed at a younger readership.
After writing the first eight books of the Cherry Ames series and the first three Vicki Barr books, Wells decided to abandon both series to write for television and radio, and Julie Tatham took over (however, both the ninth Cherry Ames book and the fourth Vicki Barr book were published under Wells's name). Tatham later returned the Vicki Barr books to Wells in 1953 and the Cherry Ames books in 1955.
During World War II, she served as a volunteer with the State Department's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, escorting Latin American visitors in the United States.
Author of Cherry Ames, Nurse books, a series for young teens.
She was also the author of the Vicki Barr books, about a young mystery-solving flight attendant. And, as Francine Lewis, she penned the short-lived Polly French series (1950s), aimed at a younger readership.
After writing the first eight books of the Cherry Ames series and the first three Vicki Barr books, Wells decided to abandon both series to write for television and radio, and Julie Tatham took over (however, both the ninth Cherry Ames book and the fourth Vicki Barr book were published under Wells's name). Tatham later returned the Vicki Barr books to Wells in 1953 and the Cherry Ames books in 1955.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 29, 2018
Darn it I think the honeymoon period is waning...
This time around Vicki gets caught up in the adventures of a young girl and the monetary issues of her idiot father and mother (who does an amazing impression of Mrs. Bennett and Blanche Dubois) who are being taken advantage of by the guy who runs their lumber business. The daughter's solution to dealing with her parents being grumpy about money is to run away from home. Twice. Which is how Vicki gets involved since the girl winds up on her plane.
The reader is treated to way more information on the lumber business in the 50's than even people involved in the lumber business in the 50's could possibly want and Vicki doesn't do all that much flying. But she and her boyfriend Dean the co-pilot do manage to put all to rights in the end!
This time around Vicki gets caught up in the adventures of a young girl and the monetary issues of her idiot father and mother (who does an amazing impression of Mrs. Bennett and Blanche Dubois) who are being taken advantage of by the guy who runs their lumber business. The daughter's solution to dealing with her parents being grumpy about money is to run away from home. Twice. Which is how Vicki gets involved since the girl winds up on her plane.
The reader is treated to way more information on the lumber business in the 50's than even people involved in the lumber business in the 50's could possibly want and Vicki doesn't do all that much flying. But she and her boyfriend Dean the co-pilot do manage to put all to rights in the end!
October 8, 2016
3.5 STARS
After the first book, I've been reading Vicki's adventures slightly out of order. It doesn't matter hugely to the plots though a few "surprises" are spoiled (for example, having already read book three I was not in too much suspense about her next assignment). Vicki feels like an old chum by now and I do enjoy all of her friends and family and the travels though I admit this one didn't quite have the sparkle some of the others did. The mystery didn't seem particularly suspenseful and the setting wasn't particularly exotic or romantic (timber tracts and mills in the southern US) so maybe that's why. However, I'm always pleased with Vicki's spirit and Wells always manages to weave in interesting cultural notes. Forest rangers and smoke jumpers are heroes in this book and we are introduced to the icon Smokey the Bear in a poster on the ranger's wall (a relative newcomer since he debuted in 1944, only a few years before this book was published). I do love the description: "Smoky Bear was a large, plump, very worried-looking bear in trousers and a hat, exasperatingly pouring a bucket of water over a fire some careless picnickers had not drowned and stirred and drowned again." The ranger informs Vicki that nine out of ten forest fires are man-made, and needless, and Vicki is determined never to be careless with fire in the woods ;-)
After the first book, I've been reading Vicki's adventures slightly out of order. It doesn't matter hugely to the plots though a few "surprises" are spoiled (for example, having already read book three I was not in too much suspense about her next assignment). Vicki feels like an old chum by now and I do enjoy all of her friends and family and the travels though I admit this one didn't quite have the sparkle some of the others did. The mystery didn't seem particularly suspenseful and the setting wasn't particularly exotic or romantic (timber tracts and mills in the southern US) so maybe that's why. However, I'm always pleased with Vicki's spirit and Wells always manages to weave in interesting cultural notes. Forest rangers and smoke jumpers are heroes in this book and we are introduced to the icon Smokey the Bear in a poster on the ranger's wall (a relative newcomer since he debuted in 1944, only a few years before this book was published). I do love the description: "Smoky Bear was a large, plump, very worried-looking bear in trousers and a hat, exasperatingly pouring a bucket of water over a fire some careless picnickers had not drowned and stirred and drowned again." The ranger informs Vicki that nine out of ten forest fires are man-made, and needless, and Vicki is determined never to be careless with fire in the woods ;-)
January 16, 2018
Another thoroughly enjoyable Vicki Barr adventure :-) I almost think I liked this better than the first, maybe because I know the characters now, and I like the writing style.
February 25, 2019
This book took me over a month to read because the first half is soooo boring.
Mr. Purnell is worried about his failing lumber business. The company is losing a ton of money and he can't figure out why. It's to the point that he is $25,000 in debt (that's over $260,000 in todays money), about to lose the lumber mill, and about to lose his house. However he wont go take the 2 hour train ride to check on his business in person to find out what's wrong. He just sits at home and worries. In my opinion if he didn't care enough to actually look into the business matters himself, then he deserves to lose it.
It got more interesting when Vicki and Dean take a plane ride to the lumber mill and do detective work. I don't really like Dean though and wish someone else had gone with her such as Joan. The last book ended with Vicki being interested in two men, Dean and Pete, who were both interested in her. I liked Pete but knew Vicki would end up with Dean since he is also in the airline business.
The criminal confesses his whole plot in the end which is always annoying and even says "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids- err that girl."
Mr. Purnell is worried about his failing lumber business. The company is losing a ton of money and he can't figure out why. It's to the point that he is $25,000 in debt (that's over $260,000 in todays money), about to lose the lumber mill, and about to lose his house. However he wont go take the 2 hour train ride to check on his business in person to find out what's wrong. He just sits at home and worries. In my opinion if he didn't care enough to actually look into the business matters himself, then he deserves to lose it.
It got more interesting when Vicki and Dean take a plane ride to the lumber mill and do detective work. I don't really like Dean though and wish someone else had gone with her such as Joan. The last book ended with Vicki being interested in two men, Dean and Pete, who were both interested in her. I liked Pete but knew Vicki would end up with Dean since he is also in the airline business.
The criminal confesses his whole plot in the end which is always annoying and even says "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids- err that girl."
February 22, 2021
Yoinked from Mom's Nancy Drew/Cherry Ames shelf. Book 2 is freed from the setting up of the series and able to swan dive right into the mystery without taking half the book to get there.
The mystery isn't really a mystery as such as it's really, really obvious what's going on. There's likely a reason why I've only noticed two of this series on the shelf and have no memory of there being more when I was younger. Also Mom herself said they weren't as good as Nancy and Cherry. I wouldn't say no to reading anything else in the series, as Vicki herself is sweet though stubborn (I get that the story needed her suspended in order to let her gallivant around the Southeastern seaboard but still, maybe mention you missed your flight because you rescued your sister from nearly drowning/freezing to death when someone threatens your job.) and I'm just not going to comment about the whole fire safety protocols that absolutely had to be thrown out the window.
The mystery isn't really a mystery as such as it's really, really obvious what's going on. There's likely a reason why I've only noticed two of this series on the shelf and have no memory of there being more when I was younger. Also Mom herself said they weren't as good as Nancy and Cherry. I wouldn't say no to reading anything else in the series, as Vicki herself is sweet though stubborn (I get that the story needed her suspended in order to let her gallivant around the Southeastern seaboard but still, maybe mention you missed your flight because you rescued your sister from nearly drowning/freezing to death when someone threatens your job.) and I'm just not going to comment about the whole fire safety protocols that absolutely had to be thrown out the window.
September 15, 2024
This is the second in the Vicki Barr, Flight Stewardess series, and it should be noted I haven't read the first. Vicki is newly graduated from the stewardess school and is now being sent out on her first flights with Federal airlines. She's living in a flat with five other stewardesses and has a bit of romance going on with a handsome co-pilot. SHe's working on a short hop line and on one of her flights she encounters a young woman called Joan who is clearly in some sort of trouble and ends up helping save a timber business. Yes, you read that right a timber business. I now have a rudimentary understanding of how the timber business worked in late 1940s America, as well as the methods of fire-watching and fire fighting that were in place for forested areas. You weren't expecting that were you? Me neither.
I feel fairly safe in telling you this, because I don't think any of you are going to be buying this one. So I also don't mind spoiling the plot a bit further and telling you that Vicki also rescues her younger sister from drowning in an icy pond, takes a crew of hunters up on a flight to a shooting trip - and one of them shoots a window out on the plane on the way - and that the denouement of the timber plot involves landing the plan on a track in the middle of the fire and then a life or death fight. All this in under 200 pages. You're welcome.
The good news is that unlike her British equivalent, Shirley Flight, Vicki's plane doesn't crash. Shirley is in a worrying number of crashes over the course of her series, but in this one at least Vicki makes it safely down to earth at the end of all of her flights. It's slightly random that a teenage air hostess is the one to work out how Joan's father's business partner is trying to put him out of business, and also that the guy who is organising the hunting trip is also a timber baron, but coincidences like that are the stuff of Girl's Own adventure stories. And I love them for it.
There are fifteen other books in the Vicki Barr series and I'd happily read more if I can lay my hands on them at a sensible price because this is my sort of crazy. And unlike some of the other books of the ear, I didn't spot any racism. Which is a low bar to be cleared, but there it is and the same can't be said about some of the Shirley Flight Books. Helen Wells is also responsible for the majority of the books in the somewhat better know Cherry Ames series about a peripatetic nurse, some of which I've read as well and which are generally easier to get hold of.
I feel fairly safe in telling you this, because I don't think any of you are going to be buying this one. So I also don't mind spoiling the plot a bit further and telling you that Vicki also rescues her younger sister from drowning in an icy pond, takes a crew of hunters up on a flight to a shooting trip - and one of them shoots a window out on the plane on the way - and that the denouement of the timber plot involves landing the plan on a track in the middle of the fire and then a life or death fight. All this in under 200 pages. You're welcome.
The good news is that unlike her British equivalent, Shirley Flight, Vicki's plane doesn't crash. Shirley is in a worrying number of crashes over the course of her series, but in this one at least Vicki makes it safely down to earth at the end of all of her flights. It's slightly random that a teenage air hostess is the one to work out how Joan's father's business partner is trying to put him out of business, and also that the guy who is organising the hunting trip is also a timber baron, but coincidences like that are the stuff of Girl's Own adventure stories. And I love them for it.
There are fifteen other books in the Vicki Barr series and I'd happily read more if I can lay my hands on them at a sensible price because this is my sort of crazy. And unlike some of the other books of the ear, I didn't spot any racism. Which is a low bar to be cleared, but there it is and the same can't be said about some of the Shirley Flight Books. Helen Wells is also responsible for the majority of the books in the somewhat better know Cherry Ames series about a peripatetic nurse, some of which I've read as well and which are generally easier to get hold of.
December 29, 2020
In Vicki's second adventure since becoming an airline stewardess, she befriends a troubled young woman on her latest route between New York and Norfolk, Virginia. Joan Purnell is running away from home--her parents are tense and there's something very wrong and she just can't take it anymore. Vicki talks with her and gets her to agree that facing up to troubles and trying to solve the problem is a better plan than running away from it. But Joan begs Vicki to come home with her and help. Vicki can't resist a mystery and soon she and her friend Dean (a co-pilot with the airline) are learning more about the lumber business than anyone could want to know and helping the Purnells find out why their successful company is suddenly losing money.
These books are normally more career-focused, Vicki behaves here more like the typical girl detective than usual--there's very little airline hostessing going on. The mystery is a solid one for the target age group...nothing too intricate and, of course, no murders. Vicki and Dean are able to see that the bad guy is brought to justice and all ends happily for the Purnell family. A decent, end-of-the-year read--but I didn't find it quite as compelling as my previous trips with Vicki the airline hostess. ★★★--just barely.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
These books are normally more career-focused, Vicki behaves here more like the typical girl detective than usual--there's very little airline hostessing going on. The mystery is a solid one for the target age group...nothing too intricate and, of course, no murders. Vicki and Dean are able to see that the bad guy is brought to justice and all ends happily for the Purnell family. A decent, end-of-the-year read--but I didn't find it quite as compelling as my previous trips with Vicki the airline hostess. ★★★--just barely.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
April 9, 2021
A friend suggested this series to me, and my husband found copies of the first two books in the series for sale somewhere online. I decided to read them before we made an investment in any of the others. While I enjoyed the first one, I had put off reading the second one. I was between books, waiting for some I had reserved from the library to become available so I picked up book number two and breezed through it in my little bit of spare time over the course of eight nights. I guess I'm on a little bit of a kick reading books that were published in the 1940s-1950s, having read several of them during the past year. Some have been rereads, and others like the Vicki Barr series, have been new. I wasn't a Nancy Drew fan so I can't speak to how similar this series is to them, but so far they remind me of the Bobbsey Twins series but aimed at a slightly older audience. This is an enjoyable story, although it is somewhat predictable. It did take a little while to spark my interest, but by the end of the book I was wanting to read chapter after chapter. One of the things I greatly enjoy is reading about the bygone days of air travel. I'm still on the fence about purchasing the entire series or even more of the books, but if they can be found cheaply, I might get a few more just for the novelty of reading about early commercial air travel.
June 22, 2019
I could easily describe this book as a slightly older Nancy Drew. Unfortunately, it struggles with a lot of weaknesses not found in the Nancy Drew books. For example, there are far too many characters, and none of them are developed. The mystery is ignored for most of the book until the end, and it takes too long to get to the conflict. I love the idea of a flight stewardess who travels solving mysteries, but on one hand this book feels like children's level reading but it also features all adult characters, making it more appealing to an older audience. I happened upon this book in a second-hand bookstore and only bought it because it reminded me of Nancy Drew. Unfortunately, I can't say I really enjoyed it.
August 18, 2023
I love these vintage Nancy Drew style mysteries with their authentic feel of the times which I positively yearn for! I bought a few on eBay with intact dust Jackets bearing the original illustrations but they are very rare. I get so nostalgic reading these. The prose is plain but somehow it charmingly, gently evokes a feeling of place and time which is invaluable to those like me born always harking back to another era, and that really is good writing. I'd rather read one of these than many current "best sellers".
May 1, 2020
More adventure with Vicki Barr-Flight Stewardess. She is able to help a family who is being swindled out of the lumber business they inherited. I like this series. It is very, very, very easy reading. Maybe one more very. I have the third book ready to go, with more Vicki, all of her roommates in their NYC apartment and more adventure. I am wondering if Dean the copilot will be in the third book or if she moves on. Stay tuned.
April 24, 2025
My random introduction to this kind of series. The closest I've come before is a few Trixie Belden books, but this seems to be for older readers, at least age 14 or so. So much about white collar crime, but also a big fist fight. And an interlude about a trip to hunt moose. And about skating without making sure the pond is frozen. A fun mess. Rounded up to three stars because in the 1970s, when I was a teen, I would have liked it quite a bit.
March 19, 2020
Vicki is excite about her new route from New York to Norfolk, especially since her friend Dean is the copilot. On one return flight to New York, she befriends a young woman who is running away, and persuades her to confide her troubles. Naturally Joan asks Vicki to help, and along with Dean the uncover the problem. Quick and enjoyable read.
April 22, 2020
These books crack me up, mass written and fluffy plot lines but I guess it has a comforting feeling of simpler times
May 11, 2020
In which Vicki saves a family of dumbasses again and again. And again.
December 16, 2024
The parts about her friends and career are interesting, but the mystery dragged it down.
November 24, 2016
I didn't like this one as much as book one. First, there was next to no flying details. Second, it was predictable and Chuckle Vicki is dumb. What kind of idiot goes ice skating on a barely frozen pond an hour before they're supposed to catch a plane? And the mystery was no mystery. I knew who the culprit was asap. But Vicki should have minded her own business because frankly the family was dumb too!
February 26, 2017
This one was kind of "meh" but it was a quick read. I dislike Vicki's beau and he was in this one rather a lot. There's a cameo mention of Smoky Bear (the mystery revolves around a lumber mill, so there are some forest rangers who make an appearance), so I looked him up and learned he was first debuted in 1940.
February 7, 2010
Two copies
November 8, 2013
Very good book. Reminded me a lot of Nancy Drew. Great for youth too.
November 23, 2016
This one was ok not as good as the first one.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews