Kate Warne, Pinkerton Detective

Kate Warne, Pinkerton Detective
By Marissa Moss
Creston Books, 2017. Juvenile biography.

The infamous Adams Express case of the 1890s: pouches containing $40,000, locked multiple times with keys owned by different people, were found empty. Who could have taken the money? Put undercover on the case was the most unlikely person: a female detective.

When Kate Warne applied for a job at the Pinkerton Detective Agency, Mr. Pinkerton told her there were currently no cooking or cleaning jobs available. Kate informed him that she didn’t want to cook or clean but was there to fill the vacant position of detective. Since no woman had ever been a detective before, Pinkerton was quite shocked, but after careful consideration, he offered her the job.

This picture book biography is presented as a page-turning mystery, as Kate races to find suspects, gain their trust, and recover the stolen money. This fascinating story is even more exciting as it describes the true, lesser-known history of the first female detective and how her success launched the Pinkerton Detective Agency to worldwide fame.

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