Girl in Disguise

Starred review from October 10, 2016
Macallister (The Magician’s Lie) pens an exciting, well-crafted historical novel featuring Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton detective in 1856 Chicago. Kate is a widow and needs a job, convincing Allan Pinkerton that a female detective can go places and do things a male detective cannot. Once hired, Kate becomes skilled at lock picking and surveillance, but she is best in disguise—as a prostitute, rich matron, spinster, clerk, Southern belle, doting sister, and false friend—an expert liar, playing a role. She investigates burglaries, bank robberies, embezzlement, counterfeiting, blackmail, and murder. The Pinkerton Detective Agency is a man’s world, and Kate is forced to prove herself, especially when someone tries to discredit her. She eventually earns the respect of her fellow detectives, learning a secret to be used later. Kate carries a pistol, but her wit, careful observation, and boldness see her through tricky and unexpected situations with desperate, dangerous criminals. In 1861 Kate comes up with an ingenious plan to protect President Lincoln from a Southern assassination plot, and she later works as a Pinkerton spy in the South during the Civil War, vowing revenge on whoever betrayed her lover and focusing on a formidable adversary, the notorious real-life Southern spy Mrs. Rose Greenhow. Loaded with suspense and action, this is a well-told, superb story. Agent: Elizabeth Weed, the Book Group.

Stephanie Cozart's enthusiastic narration captures the perkiness and determination of a real-life young widow who broke gender and social barriers in the 1850s as the first female Pinkerton agent. Although details of Kate Warne's life are limited by records lost to the Great Chicago Fire, Macallister adds veracity to this re-creation by imagining Warne's actual cases. Use of first-person storytelling also lends authenticity and a touch of intimacy to the account. Despite stilted dialogue, Cozart's clear delivery moves the book smartly along. Her attempts at male voices fall short, but she delivers accents convincingly and reveals a lovely singing voice with a haunting rendition of an Irish folksong. This is an intriguing and informative glimpse of a unique slice of America's history. M.O.B. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine