Shirley Flight #3, Desert Adventure

Shirley Flight was published by the British company, World Distributors, in the 1950s and 60s. My copy of this book doesn't list a copyright date, but the inscription in the front is dated January 1959, and the first four titles are listed on the back cover. Shirley is an air hostess for Transcontinental Airlines and a trained nurse (as air hostesses were required to be at the time). The books differ from the Vicki Barr series much more than I would have expected. There's a definite international flair, and Shirley's family really isn't mentioned. The Vicki Barr books use flight as a way to get around to solve mysteries, while Shirley Flight mysteries center around the plane itself. There are also male stewards on board, and Shirley's experience of sexism is an element in both books I've read.

In this book, Shirley and her passengers are setting out from Beirut to Bahrain. Onboard, passengers include Wally the pop star, Mrs Rutter the harsh old lady with a heart of gold, and Carmen Vidette, an obnoxious ex-Folies Bergere chorus girl on her way to a gold-digging marriage with an Indian prince. The first hint that something is wrong occurs while the plane is still on the tarmac, with Shirley discovering and apprehending a native in the crew cabin.

Once in the air, the plane gets caught in an electrical storm, screwing with their flight instruments. They get off course, then lose most of their engines. The pilots make a forced landing in the middle of the desert. After ten days, it becomes obvious that they're going to run out of food, water, and strength before the plane can be repaired. Then they get captured by a band of Arabs, who, naturally, are the members of a secret society that vows to kill all white people. They've been after Carmen, whose interracial marriage for profit displeases them. Luckily, they manage to hide her identity somehow. Wouldn't they recognize her, though, if they really had a hit out on her?

They're taken to a hidden valley, where the origins for this vow are explained as shipwrecked English prisoners in the 1790s taking all their treasure. Now no white people can leave the valley alive as long as the treasure is gone. Shirley manages to convince the ruler to let them live by saving the life of his sick son with her nursing training and the onboard first aid kit. The ruler still keeps the vow by making them stay, albeit alive, in the valley.

The son befriends Shirley, though, and tells her about a secret passage out of the valley. The passengers plan to sneak out every night, repair the plane, and then finally make their escape. Of course, Shirley finds the secret treasure room and figures out the cobra belts worn by the assassins are the the key to the room. Really. So the treasure is restored, they have a feast, then get to fly off to England. At the last minute, they put the son on board the plane, so that he can see England.

• The 50s Brit xenophobia/colonialism is pretty offensive. Shirley says things like, "You big boy bring big truck 'long medical stores!" to communicate with her very adult ground foreman. The narration also explains that the local phrase, "If Allah wills it!" is used as a scapegoat for the natives' natural neglect and laziness.
• The sort of love interest is First Officer Tony Luckworth, who is described, I kid you not, as "ferociously moustached." Maybe that's him on the cover? He has a lucky teddy bear that's stolen by Carmen. Random much, for sure.
  
• All non-BBC English British accents are spelled phonetically. In particular, Alf, one of the stewards', Cockney speech is featured, with extensive use of Cockney rhyming slang.
  
• Shirley cures the son by giving him penicillin (an antibiotic) for what she believes to be a viral infection. Sense, it makes none. She also sets up an oxygen tent, opens the windows, and kicks out the oh-so-backwards-and-superstitious, incense-waving Arab physician.
• I have no idea who is supposed to care for the son, who is a child, once he gets to England. It's never explained.
• They describe the rather large amount of luggage brought for the son, but both SF and VB talk about how critical the weight of the cargo (and even the passengers!) and its distribution are on board the plane.

So that's Shirley Flight Air Hostess in Desert Adventure. Up next, The Great Bullion Mystery, which is also rather strange, if more Nancy Drewish.