Nell worries that they'll be caught, and Kitty, after the briefest of reassurances, adds: "And the proper word is isn't, not ain't. On of my favorite scenes in one in which Nell and Kitty are following a suspected murderer at night, in a creepy setting. She is a stickler for vocabulary and self-improvement, and she frequently surprises Nell with her expressed beliefs (e.g., paraphrasing: 'You want to be a nurse? Why not become a doctor?'). Though rather disagreeable (Nell refers to her in letters as "Pickled Onion"), Kitty shows herself to be an early feminist, a woman who believes that girls can do anything. Truth be told, it's Aunt Kitty who is the stronger character here, despite Nell's first-person viewpoint. The two are involved in solving various cases, including one with great historical significance and one that strikes much closer to home. But slowly, Kitty starts to allow Nell to help her in her work, to become an informal detective's assistant. Aunt Kitty blames Nell's father for the death of her husband, and this keeps a rift between woman and girl. 11-year-old Nell Warne is dumped on the doorstep of her extremely reluctant aunt by marriage, after the deaths of Nell's family members from various causes.Īunt Kitty lives in a Chicago boarding house in a time immediately prior to Abraham Lincoln's election as President. The Detective's Assistant by Kate Hannigan is historical fiction speculating on the existence of the niece of an actual historical figure, Kate Warne, the first female detective to work for Pinkerton's Agency.
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