one week in the world

I meant to mark the one-week-a-versary of GIRL IN DISGUISE yesterday, when it had actually been exactly a week, but... well, you see how that worked out. Sure has been a crazy eight days! The NPR review was a particular highlight, and my launch event at Kramerbooks, and all the fun outpouring of support on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. It's unreal when a book finally emerges into the world after such a long wait, and this week has been unreal in all the best ways.

And this was a highlight too -- but if things keep going this well, #20 will be only the beginning!

 

 

NPR calls GIRL IN DISGUISE a "spunky spy saga"!

I was sitting in the ballroom of the Omni Charlottesville this weekend, waiting to hear Laura Lippman speak to a crowd of eager readers, when a tweet showed up on my phone that nearly made me squeak with excitement: NPR Books reviewed GIRL IN DISGUISE! And they liked it!

I'll link to the review below, though be warned it does contain spoilers. If you want to stay spoiler-free, here are a few highlights:

Girl in Disguise, Macallister's sophomore effort, dives into case after case, convincing the reader as well as Pinkerton that Kate is an ace detective in this dangerous man's world.

Macallister writes in an author's note that history has left us mostly "blank spaces" for this pioneering criminologist. Such a situation can actually become a gift to a talented author, who knows how to fill in those spaces with deft imaginings, like Kate's con artist, thespian parents, who unknowingly provided the perfect childhood for a would-be spy.

With Kate, Macallister gives us a glimpse into a 19th century cloak and dagger world we may not have known existed.

They also called it "a sockdolager of a tale", explaining that sockdolager was "a popular term of praise of the time" -- so yes! It's a compliment! (I looked it up to make sure.) 

And here's the whole thing -- read on if you dare!

get your copy of GIRL IN DISGUISE signed!

At last night's GIRL IN DISGUISE event in Washington, DC, I signed a book for a reader from Montana. Yay! She happened to be in town at the same time I was, which was great. But because there are no bookstores near her hometown, this was her only opportunity to get a signed book. This is true, I think, for so many readers -- we authors can only be in one place at a time, and there's so much of the country we don't get to visit in person, no matter how extensive a tour might be.

So you can imagine how excited I was to get a note from Sourcebooks that they are extending the GIRL IN DISGUISE pre-order giveaway to include all orders for the next few days! So no matter where you are in the U.S., and no matter where you buy GIRL IN DISGUISE, you can provide proof of purchase to Sourcebooks and they'll send you a signed bookplate. I signed these personally at my kitchen table, thusly:

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(with a little help from placemats that belong to other, younger members of the household)

This offer is good through Sunday, March 26. So if you already bought GIRL IN DISGUISE or you're thinking about buying it, now is a great time to reap the reward!

Here's the Google form to provide your info, and you're good to go.

(and if you want to see if I might be coming to your town this spring to sign in person, here are my upcoming events!)

thank you!

Just the briefest of blog posts to say THANK YOU to all the authors, readers, bloggers and other book people (including my agent and publisher of course!) who made yesterday's launch of GIRL IN DISGUISE so utterly awesome! I am just the luckiest writer in the world and that's all there is to it. Thanks, thanks, thanks!

(And two other things: GIRL IN DISGUISE made this Bookish list of the week's hottest releases, and if you're in DC, come see me tonight at Kramerbooks at 6:30! Okay, now that's really all.)

 

today's the day for GIRL IN DISGUISE!

I am so thrilled to announce that GIRL IN DISGUISE, my new novel about first female Pinkerton detective Kate Warne, is now available! I'm tempted to say "wherever books are sold," but that makes it sound like I don't know where books are sold, right? ("Where can I find it?" "Oh, wherever.")

Lots of people (like Christina Baker Kline, Melanie Benjamin, and other historical fiction superstars) have said nice things about it, and it's gotten some cool honors and awards, too.

You can always find Buy links on my Books page, but here are a few extra for your convenience:

Amazon (hardcover)

Amazon (Kindle)

Barnes & Noble (hardcover)

Barnes & Noble (Nook)

Indiebound (hardcover)

Indiebound (large print)

And while you're here, why not check out my tour schedule? Next up: DC, Charlottesville, and Boston. Wheee!

Book of the Week at PW!

Oh how I love Publishers Weekly. Just as I am reaching peak stress about GIRL IN DISGUISE (which comes out TOMORROW CAN YOU BELIEVE IT), it showed up on their PW Picks list of Books of the Week. (They also gave GIRL a starred review and put it on their staff list of Best Books I Read in 2016, so I'm pretty sure the love is mutual!)

All the picks are here, including City of Light, City of Poison, which I'm dying to read myself. Paris! Police! Witches, apparently? Must read.

taking five on Writer Unboxed

I'm a regular contributor on Writer Unboxed, and I'm tickled to be their featured writer on this week's Take Five. Read the interview here. 

And by the way, for writers at any stage of the publication process, I highly recommend Writer Unboxed's book Author in Progress -- it's like having 50 writing coaches stop by with brilliant advice. Me included! And this journey is so much better with company.

is Kate Warne having a moment?

As I roamed the country on pre-pub tour for GIRL IN DISGUISE last week, I found myself saying this sentence more than once: "I think Kate Warne's about to have a moment." Considering she died in 1868, the timing's a little odd. Then again, since my novel inspired by Kate's life is coming out next Tuesday (3/21), I'll take it. I wrote GIRL IN DISGUISE because I wanted her story to become better-known, and judging by what I've read lately, I'm not the only one.

So several books about Kate have popped or are popping up -- last year's How Kate Warne Saved President Lincoln was for young readers, and another children's book is due out in May called Kate Warne, Pinkerton Detective. (I got an early copy, because I know awesome booksellers.)

Not only that, only days after I got home, I noticed two online spotlights of Kate for Women's History Month -- this one on Time.com and a Mental Floss roundup of 10 Trailblazing U.S. Law Women, in which Kate was #1. 

And now the TV series "The Pinkertons" from Canada is on Netflix, so you can also get your fill of TV Kate along with all the other Kates.

On my travels so far, the largest group I've been able to ask about Kate was an audience of 160 librarians. Of those 160, only 5 had heard of Kate before I introduced her. Next year, and the year beyond, if I ask a group of the same size the same question, I bet we'll come up with radically different numbers.

And I am so excited.

win a copy of The Other Einstein!

So for Women's History Month, I've been recommending a book a day on Instagram (and Facebook and Twitter) with the hashtag #womenshistoryreads. Some are non-fiction (like Liar Temptress Soldier Spy by Karen Abbott) and some are fiction (like I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe). All are intended to shed light on some aspect of the lives of women of the past, whether collectively or individuals.

Today's recommendation is The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict, inspired by the true story of Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein's first wife and a brilliant scientist in her own right. How was her struggle different from her husband's? Did she make an uncredited contribution to the famous Theory of Relativity? Read the book and find out! Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below by midnight on March 16 for a chance to win your copy.