History, mystery and a little romance combine in Jean Sheldon's "The Woman in the Wing." It's 1940 and young Charlotte Mercer and her best friend Maxine enroll in a civilian flight training program at Northwestern University in Chicago. The two complete their training and in 1942 are invited to apply to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to fly military airplanes. As accomplished pilots, Char and Maxi are welcomed into the WASP training program where they soon become two of the WASP's best pilots. Char finishes her testing first in her class, but is denied her wings by the base commander when she refuses his advances. The commander instead orders her to work as a riveter at the Douglas Aircraft plant to assist the FBI in investigating possible spies at the airfield and plant.

Dave Frazier is the FBI agent Char works with on the investigation. Dave's sister, Ellie, also an agent, is assigned as Char's partner in the assembly plant. WASP pilots are going down in sabotaged planes and deadly accidents and murders are occurring at the plant. To uncover the saboteurs, Char and Ellie snoop into the lives of their fellow riveters.

"The Woman in the Wing," though fiction, contains much history of the WASP program and World War II. Author Sheldon keeps readers guessing as to the identity of the saboteurs. Her characters are engaging and Sheldon's story gives readers an inside look into the daily life of Americans at home during World War II. There are a few instances where sentences are repeated and a few scene transitions that come abruptly, but overall this is a great read for anyone who loves a mystery and is interested in the World War II era.