In every condition of humanity, it is precisely play, and play alone, that makes people complete. Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795)

Join me for the book launch!

Greenlight Books

686 Fulton St. Fort Greene, Brooklyn

The book launch is free, but you can RSVP 

The Widow Spy is available for pre-order!

Pub date April 9, 2024

“With piercing prose and a nimble balance of emotion and suspense, Campisi expertly melds the best of historical mystery with top-shelf literary fiction. Amy Stewart and Sarah Waters fans, take note: this is a must-read.” —Publishers Weekly

Selected as one of the Best Historical Mysteries of 2024 from BookBub and BiblioLifestyles’s Best Thriller Books and Mysteries of 2024!

The author of the “magnificent…complex, vivid” (New York Journal of Books) Sin Eater returns with a rousing and propulsive novel based on the astonishing true story of the first female Pinkerton detective whose next assignment could end the Civil War.

Kate Warne is many things: the country’s first female detective, a Pinkerton agent, and a Union spy.

It’s August 1861, and her latest assignment could finally end the bloody Civil War and bring the fractured United States together again. All she has to do is win the trust of her captive: Confederate spy and socialite Rose Greenhow. But with Rose well aware of Kate’s working-class background and belief in abolitionism, it seems an impossible task. Worse, Kate has secrets that make her vulnerable, such as her forbidden love affair with a colleague.

With time running out, Kate faces not only the moral and political divides between herself and Rose, but also the ones she made in her own heart and life. She must decide which divides are worth crossing and how far she’s willing to go to defeat the Confederacy in this spellbinding and moving new novel from Megan Campisi.