In the summer of 1944, Edwina, known as Eddie, a young high school teacher of English and German travels to Washington to work for the war effort unaware a killer is there, targeting government girls. And he's closer than she could ever imagine. Eddie finds Washington crowded and exciting, a city at war, where folks act as if each day is their last. She rushes at life, longing to live her own version of Casablanca, believing the only enemies are Over There, the Nazis, Hitler, Hirohito. And that every man in uniform is a hero. The Last Government Girl, filled with heart-pounding tension, is peopled with extraordinarily alive characters, a mulatto crime photographer battling Jim Crow laws, a bootlegger's niece enjoying stolen moonshine money, and a beautiful Jewish department store heiress hiding a terrible secret. "If you love the World War II era and mysteries, Ellen Herbert's The Last Government Girl is going to be one you will want to read. The story takes place in DC during World War II when the city is flooded with young women going to work for the first time to help the war effort. And someone is killing those "government girls" once a month. This story took me back to a time I never lived and made me feel as if I was there. I literally could not stop reading." - Rebecca McFarland Kyle, Author of Fanny and Dice, Editor of Tails from the Front Line, and Amazon Vine reviewer About the Author Short stories in Ellen Herbert's collection, Falling Women and Other Stories, have won a PEN Fiction, a Virginia Fiction Fellowship and other awards. One of her stories was performed on NPR. She teaches writing at the Writer's Center, Bethesda, Maryland. The Last Government Girl was inspired by her mother, who came to Washington in the summer of 1944 to work for the war effort.
In the summer of 1944, Edwina, known as Eddie, a young high school teacher of English and German travels to Washington to work for the war effort unaware a killer is there, targeting government girls. And he's closer than she could ever imagine. Eddie finds Washington crowded and exciting, a city at war, where folks act as if each day is their last. She rushes at life, longing to live her own version of Casablanca, believing the only enemies are Over There, the Nazis, Hitler, Hirohito. And that every man in uniform is a hero. The Last Government Girl, filled with heart-pounding tension, is peopled with extraordinarily alive characters, a mulatto crime photographer battling Jim Crow laws, a bootlegger's niece enjoying stolen moonshine money, and a beautiful Jewish department store heiress hiding a terrible secret. "If you love the World War II era and mysteries, Ellen Herbert's The Last Government Girl is going to be one you will want to read. The story takes place in DC during World War II when the city is flooded with young women going to work for the first time to help the war effort. And someone is killing those "government girls" once a month. This story took me back to a time I never lived and made me feel as if I was there. I literally could not stop reading." - Rebecca McFarland Kyle, Author of Fanny and Dice, Editor of Tails from the Front Line, and Amazon Vine reviewer About the Author Short stories in Ellen Herbert's collection, Falling Women and Other Stories, have won a PEN Fiction, a Virginia Fiction Fellowship and other awards. One of her stories was performed on NPR. She teaches writing at the Writer's Center, Bethesda, Maryland. The Last Government Girl was inspired by her mother, who came to Washington in the summer of 1944 to work for the war effort.
