Kate Warne Pinkerton Detective

A biography of Kate Warne, the first woman detective in the U.S after being hired by the Pinkerton Agency in 1856.

Based on the extraordinary true story of America's first-ever female detective, this fast-paced adventure recounts feats of daring and danger...including saving the life of Abraham Lincoln! Eleven-year-old Nell Warne arrives on her aunt's doorstep lugging a heavy sack of sorrows. If her Aunt Kate rejects her, it's the miserable Home for the Friendless. Luckily, canny Nell makes herself indispensable to Aunt Kate...and not just by helping out with household chores. For Kate Warne is the first-ever female detective employed by the legendary Pinkerton Detective Agency. And Nell has a knack for the kind of close listening and bold action that made Pinkerton detectives famous in Civil War-era America. With huge, nation-changing events simmering in the background, Nell uses skills new and old to uncover truths about her past and solve mysteries in the present.

The true story of Kate Warne and the other women who served as Pinkertons, fulfilling the adage, “Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History.” Most students of the Old West and American law enforcement history know the story of the notorious and ruthless Pinkerton Detective Agency and the legends behind their role in establishing the Secret Service and tangling with Old West Outlaws. But the true story of Kate Warne, an operative of the Pinkerton Agency and the first woman detective in America—and the stories of the other women who served their country as part of the storied crew of crime fighters—are not well known. For the first time, the stories of these intrepid women are collected here and richly illustrated throughout with numerous historical photographs. From Kate Warne’s probable affair with Allan Pinkerton, and her part in saving the life of Abraham Lincoln in 1861 to the lives and careers of the other women who broke out of the Cult of True Womanhood in pursuit of justice, these true stories add another dimension to our understanding of American history.

From the USA Today Bestselling author of The Magician's Lie "A Spunky Spy Saga." — NPR Books "Macallister is becoming a leading voice in strong, female-driven historical fiction. Exciting, frightening, and unspeakably moving..."—Erika Robuck, bestselling author of Hemingways's Girl For the first female Pinkerton detective, respect is hard to come by. Danger, however, is not. In the tumultuous years of the Civil War, the streets of Chicago offer a woman mostly danger and ruin—unless that woman is Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton detective and a desperate widow with a knack for manipulation. Descending into undercover operations, Kate is able to infiltrate the seedy side of the city in ways her fellow detectives can't. She's a seductress, an exotic foreign medium, a rich train passenger—all depending on the day and the robber, thief, or murderer she's been assigned to nab. But is the woman she's becoming—capable of lies, swapping identities like dresses—the true Kate? Or has the real disguise been the good girl she always thought she was? As the tensions between the north and south escalate, Kate takes on a job in which the stakes have never been higher. The nation's future is at risk, even as the lines between disguise and reality begin to blur.

In 1856, when Kate Warne went to see Allan Pinkerton, only men were detectives. But Kate convinced Allan to hire her for his detective agency. She explained that she could worm out secrets where men could not go—in disguise as a society lady! Join Kate on her most important mission—to thwart a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln on the way to his inauguration.

In this HISTORICAL-FICTION, Kate Warne was the first female detective in the United States, hired by Allen Pinkerton in 1856. Kate did not flaunt her beliefs of women rights; however she went about it the right way by speaking about and visualizing how women would be very useful as undercover detectives. She was very capable of speaking to the fact, and did so often, that women have the physical and mental natural abilities to fit in, mingle, and investigate, and during the year 1856 no one would have suspected her as being a detective employed by a law enforcement agency. Warne went further, she did not just talk it, she walked the walk and became a very important member of the Pinkerton Agency, criminal investigator, and spy during the civil war period. Warne later was assigned as being head of female detectives, training, mentoring and hiring those women she thought would be a good fit as a detective. Kate Warne's accomplishments brought forth the hiring of all future female detectives as she was a pioneer and first among a male dominated profession. Our modern day female police officers and detectives owe a debt of gratitude to Kate Warne and Allen Pinkerton. All known facts have been entered accurately, although very little is known about her, hence the need to embellish her story into what feels like what may have happened.

In this HISTORICAL-FICTION, Kate Warne was the first female detective in the United States, hired by Allen Pinkerton in 1856. Kate did not flaunt her beliefs of women rights; however she went about it the right way by speaking about and visualizing how women would be very useful as undercover detectives. She was very capable of speaking to the fact, and did so often, that women have the physical and mental natural abilities to fit in, mingle, and investigate, and during the year 1856 no one would have suspected her as being a detective employed by a law enforcement agency. Warne went further, she did not just talk it, she walked the walk and became a very important member of the Pinkerton Agency, criminal investigator, and spy during the civil war period. Warne later was assigned as being head of female detectives, training, mentoring and hiring those women she thought would be a good fit as a detective. Kate Warne's accomplishments brought forth the hiring of all future female detectives as she was a pioneer and first among a male dominated profession. Our modern day female police officers and detectives owe a debt of gratitude to Kate Warne and Allen Pinkerton. All known facts have been entered accurately, although very little is known about her, hence the need to embellish her story into what feels like what may have happened.

This wonderfully illustrated children’s biography of the great nineteenth-century detective “evokes a mysterious and exciting old-fashioned tale of espionage” (School Library Journal). Everyone knows the story of Abraham Lincoln, but few know anything about the spy who saved his life on the way to his 1861 inauguration! In The Eye That Never Sleeps, award-winning author and illustrator Marissa Moss reveals the true story of Allen Pinkerton. A poor Scottish immigrant, Pinkerton became the first police detective in Chicago before opening the country’s most successful detective agency. He solved more than 300 murders and recover millions of dollars in stolen money. However, his greatest contribution was foiling an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln. The Eye That Never Sleeps is illustrated with a contemporary cartoon style, mixing art and text in a way that appeals to readers of all ages. The book also includes a bibliography and a timeline.