Apparently I missed this news back in July when I was abroad, but there's now a Canadian-made TV show about the Pinkerton National Detective Agency set in the 1860s. It's a syndicated show, and I only stumbled on it when my Tivo suggested it to me. I caught the third episode, so I'll have to see if they'll rerun the two that I missed.
It's an action-adventure detective series, set in the Wild West. It's post Civil War, and the episode I saw featured a lot of discussion of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. (One of the characters was the famous actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth.) They also mentioned the time that Kate Warne guarded Lincoln all night during the train ride to his inauguration. She is the reason for the Agency's "we never sleep" slogan. The show apparently focuses mainly on Kate Warne and William Pinkerton, with his father Allan Pinkerton occasionally appearing. I don't know how much is historically accurate and how much is dramatic license, but I'm glad for any show to publicize Kate Warne more. The show is made with cooperation from the modern Pinkerton Corporation, so I wonder if they will whitewash any connection of Pinkerton agents with unionbusting activities. I suppose that an adventure show would steer clear of politics.
I like Kate Warne in this show. In the episode, she actually got to investigate much of the murder by herself while William was away getting forensics tests run on the body. Kate is capable of some chemical tests too, and she mentions the real life 1863 blood test recommended by the German chemist Schonbein. (That made me wonder why Sherlock Holmes needed to invent his own blood test, but then I read online that the hydrogen peroxide test was not infallible, and was only a first stage screening.) Anyway, Kate also got to participate in the action stunts as well. She's all heroine and no femme fatale so far. It seems like this show will be a lot of fun. It's a fantastic world where we can pretend that Kate won't die young and be forgotten.
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