True story of Maine-native and undercover detective Jane Tucker told in new book

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - Elizabeth DeWolfe is an historian and the award-winning author.

Her most recent book is “Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy.”

Book Summary:

“Alias Agnes reveals the previously unknown true story of Maine-native Jane Tucker, a stenographer scrabbling to get by when she took a job as an undercover detective. Her target: Madeleine Pollard, former mistress of Congressman W. C. P. Breckinridge, whom she had sued for breach of promise when he failed to marry her as pledged. The trial was a national sensation and Tucker worked quietly behind the scenes, becoming Pollard’s new confidante and reporting what she learned to Breckinridge’s lawyers. Tucker, alias Agnes Parker, was so successful that no one discovered her secret task or her real identity for over a century until historian Elizabeth DeWolfe’s deep research in archives in the US and UK uncovered Tucker’s amazing work.

“Written in engaging prose with all the intrigue and suspense of a detective tale, Alias Agnes chronicles the lives of two women in the Gilded Age—the opportunities that beckoned and the challenges that thwarted their dreams."

DeWolfe’s other works include “The Murder of Mary Bean,” and “Shaking the Faith: Mary Marshall Dyer’s Anti-Shaker Campaign.”

You can find DeWolfe on Facebook and Instagram. To visit her website, click here.

“Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy” is available for purchase at DeWolfe and Wood Books in Alfred, Maine. The book is also available from major online retailers including Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Amazon, or from the publisher, University Press of Kentucky. You can always check with your local independent bookstore as well.