Pinkerton's Secret

In 1856 in Chicago, Alan Pinkerton forms his Pinkerton National Detective Agency by hiring several strong seemingly trust worthy men; women need not apply and he does not expect any will. He is proven wrong when pretty Kate Warne applies for the position of Pinkerton Agent. Pinkerton says no, but Warne is persistent so he hires her with his plan to give her soft jobs and less pay than his male operatives. However he quickly changes his mind when she turns out to be one of top agents as he gives her increasingly more difficult cases to work. Attracted to one another, they begin an affair that turns ugly once Pinkerton's wife learns that Kate is under the cover not undercover. This is a fabulous biographical fiction story that provides the audience a deep look at the personal and professional lives of Alan Pinkerton and the first female agent Kate Warne. The story line is action-packed from the onset whether it is in Chicago setting up the agency, on a case in DC leading to the formation of the Secret Service, or working to uncover Confederate spies in the capital. Readers will appreciate this superb historical tale. Harriet Klausner

I don't generally read historical fiction, but I was drawn to Eric Lerner's novel "Pinkerton's Secret" for its subject matter. Scots born Allan Pinkerton, a radical Chartist who immigrated to America in 1842, is a fascinating, problematic figure and an integral part of American history. Perhaps best known for establishing the first detective agency in the U.S., Pinkerton was also a Union spy during the Civil War. The agency was later connected to some rather unpleasant union-busting, and at one point, Pinkerton formed a private secret service organization. In "Pinkerton's Secret" author and screenwriter Eric Lerner recreates Pinkerton's remarkable life through his intriguing relationship with Kate Warne, his first female detective. Thrilling, compelling, and highly original, this novel is cleverly written in the form of a memoir narrated by a now elderly, dying Pinkerton. The novel begins with Pinkerton's initial meeting with Kate Warne when she applies for a position as a detective. Pinkerton, although an enlightened man for his times, is skeptical that a woman is capable of sustained disguise and deception, and so he initially dismisses the possibility of employing any females. Kate Warne, however, proceeds to show Pinkerton just how complex and unfathomable she is, and from the very beginnings of their long relationship, Pinkerton, a man who prides himself on being an expert on human nature, finds himself nonplussed by Kate's implacable, enigmatic manner. Part historical adventure story and part romance, Pinkerton's relationship with the remarkable Kate Warne is central to this rip-roaring read. The story is set against one of the most remarkable periods of American history, and with the Civil War unleashed, these are turbulent years, but Pinkerton's memoirs reach back through time to include details of his life as a radical abolitionist and his active involvement with the Underground Railroad. In these unprecedented times, and amidst strife and boundless opportunities, Pinkerton relates his transformation from penniless, subversive Scot to eminently respectable bastion of society. While Pinkerton argues he had "no ambition for the wealth, power and peculiar social status," he recognizes that "the greatest opportunity America offers a newcomer is the chance to discover what we are really made of." And Pinkerton, at times inflexible and a firm believer in "the ends justify the means," evolves as the country undergoes vast changes, eventually becoming "the inventor of the modern science of criminal detection." Many well-known historical figures come to life within these pages. Pinkerton, no respecter of persons, is in awe of the terrifying figure of John Brown: "the most color-blind white man" he ever met and he acknowledges, "Listening to the words of John Brown was the closest I have ever come to experiencing awe." Lincoln--obviously central to the Civil War--also appears, and he is presented here as a troubling figure--a man whose inabil

Eric Lerner's Pinkerton's Secret purports to be the memoir of Allan Pinkerton, who founded the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago in 1855. The Pinkerton Agency grew to become the first national police force. Pinkerton and his agents policed the nation's railroads, for example, and they infiltrated the Confederate forces during the Civil War to smuggle information to the Union. Lerner's Pinkerton, writing in the mid-1880s, describes some of his cases and his role during the War as well as his involvement in the Abolitionist movement: Pinkerton was an accolyte of John Brown--a relationship which, at least as Lerner's novel has it, proved fatal to Pinkerton's marriage--and his house was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Atop this historical scaffolding, Lerner has written a romance: Pinkerton begins his account in 1856, when he hired his first female operative, Kate Warne, an eminently competent woman with whom he would eventually have an affair. My copy of Lerner's book does not include a note about the story's historicity. (It's possible that other editions will include one; if not, they should.) As such it is difficult to know from the book itself how much of Lerner's story is based on historical evidence. A bit of Googling and a gander at Lerner's own (nicely designed) site suggest that the story is firmly rooted in the evidence, though he has of course taken liberties with what is known of the relationship between Pinkerton and Kate Warne. Pinkerton's Secret is not an edge-of-your-seat read, although some of the material Lerner had to work with (e.g., espionage within the Confederate ranks) would have lent itself to such a treatment. And Lerner's characters do not grip our emotions. But the book is a decent read and a pleasant enough way to swallow some history. -- Debra Hamel