The Widow Spy by Megan Campisi is a historical fiction novel that is based on the Pinkerton Detective Agency’s work during the Civil War. The novel focuses on Kaye Warne who is known to be the first female detective of the agency.

I found much of the historical fact in the book quite interesting. However the story seemed to lag in places. I wish we could have seen more of Kate’s detective jobs rather than so much focus on one. Overall, a good read that historical fiction fans will most likely enjoy- especially if Civil War era interests them.

Somehow I missed (or have forgotten) the story of Rose Greenhow, the widow spy of this well done historical fiction based in the reality of the Civil War. Kate Warne, who emigrated to the US as a child and worked in the mills of the Northeast but now is a Pinkerton agent, is pitted against Greenhow in the effort to get the cipher to her messages to the Rebels. These are two strong willed women who never expected to be where they are but which one will win? No spoilers from me but this is terrifically atmospheric and Campisi does a good job with maintaining the tension not only with the Greenhow interrogation but also when the story moves to Richmond. There's a romance that feels a bit tacked on but the banter between the two (no spoilers) is wonderful. Don't miss the afterword, which provides more information. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An excellent read for fans of historical fiction.

This was quite the interesting story based on a real historical figure, Mary Kate Heaney, who later changed her name to Kate Warne, she had come from Ireland with another family after hers had all died during the Great Famine. She's an indentured servant and works in a textile mill at a very young age. She's good at the job and eventually works her way up to operating a spinner, then gets talked into participating in a strike for better wages which gets her fired. She moves onto Chicago and talks Allan Pinkerton of the famed Pinkerton Detective Agency into taking her on as the first US female detective to work for Pinkerton. Kate and a few other detectives are assigned to house arrest Rose Greenhow, someone suspected of passing union secrets and seriously hurting the union cause. Kate is assigned to try to befriend Rose, try to get her to confirm what they think, but Rose isn't an easy person to get close to, she allows Kate to think she's warming up to her only to strike at the very heart of Kate's hurt. Kate is then assigned with another detective to find drop off and retrieve messages being passed by other detectives, some who are imbedded high in the Southern army hierarchy. Kate also became very close to a fellow detective, he is a black man and with her being white, if their closeness was ever discovered it could prove deadly for both of them. Two detectives are caught spying and imprisoned, one of them then gives up the two detectives that are in high positions in the southern army. This was a very interesting story, I had known very little of Pinkerton, and this story was an engaging read. If you are a civil war buff, you would enjoy. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Atriabooks for the ARC.

I was excited to read about a time in history that isn't normally in my 'historical fiction' category. This book follows Kate, the first female Pinkerton detective, and it focuses in on her role in cracking a confederate spy who is a widow. Actually, the first half of the book focuses on that. The second half primarily focuses on a love story that began in the first half and sprinkles in more details about the spy, as well as new roles that Kate and her colleagues have as Union spies. Kate is labeled as a widow also, for propriety's sake, so I suppose the title is more directed at her than the confederate spy. Either way, the book was middle of the road--a bit disjointed and unevenly balanced. I appreciated the research and dive into Pinkertons and their role in the Civil War.

Thank you to @thoughtsfromapage, @atriabooks, and @netgalley for my gifted copy! This one is out 4/9!

The Widow Spy by Megan Campisi is a historical fiction novel set during the Civil War. It explores the story of the first female Pinkerton detective, Kate Warne. I was drawn to this book mainly because it's historical fiction, not set during WWII. However, learning about the first female detective and her role in an assignment that could stop the Civil War was so interesting.

I loved learning about Kate's past and her journey from Ireland and the famine, to Massachusetts and working a factory job, and finally convincing Pinkerton to take her on as its first female detective. Uncovering more about her as the story progressed kept me reading with flashbacks into her character.

Excellent book! I couldn't stop turning the pages! This wonderful story based on mainly true characters during the Civil War years had me talking out loud to the book! Spies, espionage, murder, girl-power, romance, 19th century life. It had it all. I rated it 5 stars, but if I had the option of half stars it would be 4 1/2. A couple of times I noticed a modern-day phrase in the dialogue that was certainly not 19th century slang. It was confusing for a second but within a few seconds I was swept right back to the Civil War. I will definitely be reading more by this author! Great job!
Thank you to Atria Books and Cindy Burnett at Thoughts From a Page for sending me this advanced copy!

This book (set around the civil war) was not exactly what I was expecting. With a name that includes spy, I thought it would be a bit more thrilling. The book seemed to move slowly for the first half I would say.
The characters were well thought out and the author does a wonderful job telling us about them and their reasons.
I do normally love historical fiction books which are based on real life people. Unfortunately this one was just an okay sort of read for me.

I received a ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

The nation’s first female detective matches wits with a formidable Confederate opponent.

Kate Warne, born in Ireland as Mary Kate Heaney, has overcome many challenges to get where she is in August of 1861. When her parents both died during the Great Famine, she was brought to the US by a neighboring family as an indentured worker, made her own living in a Massachusetts textile mill when that family later kicked her out into the street, and when participating in a labor walkout cost her the mill job travelled to Chicago where she was able to convince Allan Pinkerton to hire her as his agency’s first female detective. As the Civil War is raging, someone in Washington DC is feeding highly sensitive military information to the Confederacy, and a socially well-connected widow with known sympathies for the Southern cause named Rose Greenhow is suspected of being that spy. Kate is tasked by Pinkerton, who is now the head of Lincoln’s Secret Service, with getting the widow Greenhow to admit to her actions, surrender the cipher key and reveal the names of the others in her network. If Kate is successful, she could bring the war to a quick end….but Rose Greenhow is every bit Kate’s match in intelligence, conviction and strength of will.

Kate Warne and Rose Greenhow were real women, one a Pinkerton detective and the other a spy for the Confederacy, as are many of the other featured characters. The Widow Spy is very much a work of fiction, however….there is no evidence, for example, that Kate Warne was present at the arrest of Rose Greenhow (although Kate was an active agent at that time), and as little is known of the real Kate Warne’s background author Megan Campisi had to invent her backstory. I did not know any of the above until I read the Afterword once I had finished the novel, and would have assumed given how real and detailed Kate’s life was written that it was at least mostly factual. Each character, major and minor, is well-developed and their inner turmoils and relationships with one another are entirely believable. The story is both a bit of a thriller…..can Kate and her fellow agents use their tactics and experience to break the widow and in so doing do great damage to the Confederacy? Will the agents imbedded in Richmond be uncovered? At the same time, great attention is paid to the human story of each character. Why is the widow willing to risk so much for the Confederate cause? What in Kate’s background has given her the strength to overcome her impoverished beginnings, and with what weaknesses did it leave her? There is also an attraction between Kate and fellow agent John Scobell, a formerly enslaved man of color (who may or may not have existed), and the dangers of such a relationship are well-explained. Throughout the novel, the characters and the reader must decide….what actions are necessary and reasonable to take? What risks are people willing to take for their cause? A fascinating story of two strong, impassioned women who took action in ways most women of their time would never have dared against the backdrop of a divisive war. Readers of Ms Campisi’s previous novel, Sin Eater, as well as those of authors like Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Kate Quinn and Allison Pataki will definitely appreciate The Widow Spy’s quality of writing and its well-plotted story. Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me early access to this fantastic read.

This is one of those books that as I’m reading it I go on a deep dive about the main character. I loved reading about America’s first female detective Kate Warme. She was hired by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and is famous for uncovering a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
This story involves Kate being tasked to uncover a cipher from a widow spy. Kate is an unpredictable and complex character at times throughout the story, but overall I found her interesting enough to do more research on her. If you enjoy historical fiction, I think you would enjoy this book and would recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

In The Widow Spy, the author uses historical facts about people who were important during the American Civil War and involved in the start of the Pinkerton agency - focusing on the protagonist, Kate, the first female detective hired by Pinkerton. Several agents, including Kate, are tasked with discovering crucial information from a known confederate sympathizer (the widow).

I really wanted to like this book more, but I found the narrative somewhat disjointed as it bounced between Kate's train of thought, and descriptive storytelling. I didn't get invested enough in the characters to finish the book, and there just wasn't enough going on to keep me interested. DNF around 50%.

Lots of historical detail in this should appreal to fans of books like Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, etc.

This book is a 3.75⭐️ book for me. I enjoyed in particular the cat and mouse play between The Widow and Kate the detective. This part of the story took twists and turns and was often times unexpected. So why the 3.75 rating you might ask. The part II of the book moved on from the widow plot to Kate’s further investigations and life. While I enjoyed that part as well, as I am interested in history and historical figures, this portion of the book grasped me less than the part I where it focuses on the widow’s case.

Concerning the characters Kate is the main character and driver of the story. She is an interesting personality and I couldn’t always grasp her motives and reasons for acting like she did. She was unpredictable. In addition to that The Widow is really interesting in my view and the cat and mouse play she put on with Kate was great.

All in all, I think if you enjoy historical fiction paired with detective stories this book might be one for you and has my recommendation, as the writing, in my view, was quite clever.

(A review will be posted on April 8th on my platforms.)

Hello! Firstly many thanks, indeed, to Netgalley for the ARC that allowed me to read the Widow Spy. I quite enjoyed this book and was pleasantly surprised by how engaging and interesting were not only the topic but also the content and writing. Megan Campisi is a brilliant writer. I found this book a bit hard to 'get into' at first. However, this early opinion was quickly modified as the story developed. Katie Warner, the first female spy and a Pinkerton detective provides a fascinating look at the Civil War and at other issues. So many angles on the Civil War have not heretofore held my interest....perhaps because they have been a bit formulaic. Also, I have been more biased toward novels set in Regency and Eighteenth-century England and earlier. What appealed to me in this book was the Pinkerton aspect. Always enticing but even more so during wartime. I learned a lot about the Civil War, Also I grew up in Chicago which adds yet another neat element of history. This book draws you in as though you are watching a stage play in real time, at the time, and I definitely recommend it. Thank you! :)

I found The Widow Spy by Megan Campisi to be a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Pinkerton spies during the Civil War. The story revolves around Kate Warner, the first female to work as a spy for Pinkerton. She must confront her past as she attempts to discover the secrets other women are hiding, such as those of Rose Greenwood, a Confederate supporter living in the North. I enjoyed how the book jumped back to tell the story of Kate’s childhood - growing up in Ireland during the Great Famine and then coming to the US, working in factories, and eventually for Pinkerton. Kate is a strong female character, and it was fascinating to learn about her from a historical fiction perspective. I also really enjoyed Campisi’s writing style and how she had Kate regularly break the 4th wall to share her thoughts with the reader. I felt this worked well with this novel. I highly recommend The Widow Spy, especially if you’re interested in Civil War history.
Thanks to Atria Books and Cindy Burnett’s Thoughts From a Page Early Reads Program for the advanced copy of this book!

This is a complex, enjoyable historical fiction novel about the first female Pinkerton detective, Kate Warne, and her efforts to end the Civil War.. From the very beginning I found this to be a compelling read which discussed several serious issues as racism, gender and slavery. class,
Thank you to Cindy Burnett with the Thoughts From a Page podcast, Atria Books for having provided a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley.

I have been reading a lot of books set around or about the Civil War recently and this was a good historical fiction novel about this time period. This novel follows Kate Warner, the first female detective in the Pinkerton agency. I enjoyed the focus on what it meant to be a woman spy, especially a plain woman versus a pretty one. Learning about Kate’s background in Ireland and then working in the mills in New England, always feeling like an outside in one way or another was interesting. I was not a huge fan of the romance in the novel just because it seemed like such a rash decision by someone who otherwise made good decisions, but I guess when it comes to romance that can be true for many people.

Overall if you like historical fiction, especially set during the Civil War, about a woman’s perspective, this was an interesting read.

This book was a fascinating read and focused on a group of spies I was not aware of. While this book takes place during the Civil War, it felt like another side of the story and a reflection of society at that time period.

I enjoyed how the author developed the characters and provided their back story while still moving the plot along.

If you are a fan of strong female main characters and like historical fiction, this book is for you.

I read this book as part of Cindy from @thoughtsfromapage Early Reads Patreon group. Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for providing the ARC.

Have you heard of Kate Warne? She was the Pinkerton's first female detective. The Widow Spy by Megan Campisi centers around Warne's interactions with Confederate spy Rose Greenhow. In attempt to uncover the spy's cipher key, Kate must try to win Rose's trust.

Thank so you much to Thoughts from a Page podcast for the ARC and for the opportunity to attend a virtual interview with Campisi. I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but I'm glad I read this one!

This book is a great combination of historical -- Campisi said much of Greenhow's most brazen dialogue came straight from her memoir -- and fiction -- with Campisi creating a fascinating and dynamic backstory for a Warne, a real-life person about whom very little is known.

I liked this book! I do think it was a little slow in the beginning but once the story picked up I enjoyed it!

I liked the detail and the description of certain areas. It made me feel like I was in the 1800s with the characters!

I will not ever tire of historical fiction with strong female characters breaking down the patriarchy. This main character novel is based on a real first female detective in the 1800s. I don’t read many novels in the 1800s which included the civil war, so this was a fresh take for me. Kate’s background was equally intriguing and it showed the tribulations she went through her whole life, but managed to secure an unheard of career for women, and do well.

The novel uncovered many societal issues: racism, women seen as second class, slavery and politics.

This novel is worth picking up should the reader love strong female protagonists, 1800s historical fiction, and characters breaking down barriers that should not be there in the first place. This novel is perfect for women’s history month.

I give this novel 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Cindy Burnett with the Thoughts From a Page podcast / Page Turners Patreon group for arranging ARC copies. Thank you to the publisher; the author; and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Campisi’s novel, based on the true story of the first female Pinkerton detective and Union spy, Kate Warne, is engaging and interesting. Born in Ireland, from humble beginnings and having lost so much, she seeks to prove herself and tries to crack Confederate spy and socialite, the widow Rose Greenhow. But will she break herself?

It is full of intrigue, ciphers, secrets and mystery. This was an enjoyable, suspenseful read. I loved the authors' character development, and you could often feel the tension in the storyline. If you’re a historical fiction fan, I’d recommend this book.

Thanks to the publisher, Atria, NetGalley, and Cindy Burnett, Thoughts From a Page, for the advance electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CW | Contains just a couple of instances of strong language.