Girl in Disguise by Greer Macallister

Kate hasn't had a good life.  Her parents were performers and drug her along from place to place.  She met a man she loved who died at a young age.  She found herself pregnant.  Her parents married her to a man who gave them some money for her and she lost the baby.  Then he dies and she becomes a widow.  She has to do something to make money.  She decides she knows what she wants to be and then she has to convince her future employer she can do it.

Sourcebooks Landmark and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 1, 2017.

This is a very good read.  It's historical fiction based on real people.  Kate aspires to be the first woman Pinkerton agent.  After all, someone has to be the first.  The problem is that the men don't want a woman agent and the boss thinks she might get hurt.  She's given a test case and finds that it's not quite as easy as she imagined.  Especially not when she discovers she's not the only Pinkerton agent there that night.

Her theater experience comes in handy as she changes from one person to another and acts the part.  She does what she needs to, solves cases and advances in the company by becoming head of the women's division.  The women she hires don't always make it.  They don't have her hard core.  What she never expected was to fall in love, but fall in love she did.  When he's killed on his next assignment, she's determined to avenge his death.  She manages that, not without some personal loss.  This lady is one tough cookie whose fortitude and inner strength give her the courage to do what she needs to do despite pain. She's someone to admire for what she accomplished in life even if with all the hardships.