This month, for our Throwback book, we’re diving into The Crescent Spy by Michael Wallace. It is a step back in time with historical characters and facts, spies, and tension-driven intrigue.
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The Crescent Spy
By Michael Wallace
Genre: Historical, Espionage
Writing under a man’s name, Josephine Breaux is the finest reporter at Washington’s Morning Clarion. Using her wit and charm, she never fails to get the scoop on the latest Union and Confederate activities. But when a rival paper reveals her true identity, accusations of treason fly. Despite her claims of loyalty to the Union, she is arrested as a spy and traitor.
To Josephine’s surprise, she’s whisked away to the White House, where she learns that President Lincoln himself wishes to use her cunning and skill for a secret mission in New Orleans that could hasten the end of the war. For Josephine, though, this mission threatens to open old wounds and expose dangerous secrets. In the middle of the most violent conflict the country has ever seen, can one woman overcome the treacherous secrets of her past in order to secure her nation’s future?
Find it on Goodreads, Amazon, and Bookbub.
Review of The Crescent Spy
The Crescent Spy, a historical fiction, is a riveting story of the Civil War. From the first page, I was enthralled by an unlikely character, a female reporter hiding behind a man’s name. When her identity is exposed, she is accused of treason. The false accusation was a plot by Allen Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, to force her to become a spy for the Union. The action-packed plot is fast-paced with rich details, including the emotional turmoil and tension of the era as it moves from battlefield fields to riverboats and navy vessels to the streets of New Orleans. The characters are well-developed, realistic, and intriguing. I would highly recommend The Crescent Spy for any history buff or someone who enjoys a captivating story.
And for the non-sayers about a lead protagonist being a woman reporter during the Civil War, I would add that reality is often stranger than fiction. Kate Warne was the first female private investigator in the United States. The Pinkerton Detective Agency employed her as a spy for President Abraham Lincoln. As a woman, she was overlooked and could go places where a man couldn’t.
