Clare Wright Books in Order

Clare Wright makes her first appearance in The Harvey Girl, the opening novel of a planned series set in the American West during the Gilded Age. The year is 1890, and the New Mexico Territory is a place where railroads are carving new towns out of desert, fortunes rise and fall overnight and the law often arrives long after the trouble starts. Into this landscape steps Clare, a young Pinkerton detective who has already proved she can handle delicate undercover work.

Fred Harvey's chain of trackside restaurants and hotels has become a symbol of order and refinement along the rail lines, bringing linen tablecloths and trained hostesses to rough depot towns. But a string of violent robberies on supply trains threatens both his business and the illusion of safety it sells. Rather than trust local lawmen, Harvey hires Pinkerton's to investigate quietly, and Clare is assigned to go west disguised as one of his famous Harvey Girls.

Montaña Roja, the boomtown where she lands, is a mix of miners, ranchers, speculators and drifters, where everyone seems to be carrying a gun and at least one secret. Clare has to learn the rhythms of restaurant work, earn the trust of her fellow servers and eavesdrop on the customers who might be connected to the robberies. At the same time she must keep her Pinkerton identity hidden from townsfolk who might resent an outsider and from criminals willing to kill to protect their take.

The series promises to combine classic Western elements, dusty streets, saloons, contested land and rough justice, with a more modern detective sensibility. Clare is neither a gunslinger nor a damsel; she relies on observation, disguises and a cleverly hidden derringer rather than brute force. Through her eyes, Stabenow explores the lives of working women in the West, the way corporate empires like the railroads reshaped the landscape and how crime adapted to ride those new rails.

Although only one book is currently available, the Clare Wright series is set up to follow her from case to case across the expanding United States, each investigation rooted in a specific place and moment in late nineteenth century history.