I would be just as happy never to tell you my story. After all, spies should remain in the shadows, not shout their lives from the village square. But General Washington assures me that you are trustworthy, and with his courtly manners – so much finer than my own – he urges me to speak to you.

A year ago, I was too busy trying to survive on the farm I inherited from my husband to give a fig who won the War for Independence.

T’was my own liberty that concerned me above all else.

Because rumors were spreading that I was a Loyalist sympathizer who betrayed my unfaithful husband to the British. Quite a clever way to end my disastrous marriage, the village gossips whispered. The fact that I’d loved my husband, or thought I had, seemed to make no difference.

I understood the town’s suspicions. Five years into the endless war, we were all afflicted by distrust, and I was an outsider in Morristown. After my mother died, I’d been raised by my father in the forests of northwest Jersey. He came into money and provided my dowry after discovering iron ore in the hills there.

I couldn’t dance, sing, play the pianoforte, or display any of the skills that mark a well-bred lady. My talents were limited to hunting and mathematics. I was awkward in society, as my deceased husband had often reminded me. Even the thought of dancing the minuet terrified me.

But when a mob gathered to drive me from my home, General Washington – who spent two winters in Morristown – made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He would save my farm if I unearthed the secrets my husband hid before his death in British-held New York City.

The General paired me on this mission with a stranger, Daniel Alloway, the last person to see my husband alive. Daniel and I argued our way through New York City, then back across the harbor to Morristown. Together, we unearthed a plot that threatened the new nation.

Daniel never complained of my independent ways nor of my unladylike manners. In turn, I stopped noticing the devastating injury to his hand, which he’d incurred escaping from a British prison ship in New York Harbor. I saw only the man with whom I was beginning to fall in love.

General Washington was as good as his word. Back in Morristown, he and Lady Washington showed me such favor that the town’s distrust vanished as quickly as snow in April.

It wasn’t ladylike to take such pride in the Washingtons’ warm regard, I told myself. It certainly wasn’t ladylike to yearn for another mission from the General. I told myself that, too. Yet I fell asleep each night wondering whether I would ever feel as alive as I had while racing through New York City with Daniel in search of traitors.

The call finally came that spring of 1780 in the form of an invitation to tea at the Widow Ford’s mansion, where the Washingtons resided. Counterfeiters were flooding Philadelphia with fake money and upending the economy, and General Washington thought that Daniel and I were the perfect, though unconventional, duo to find them.

Within two weeks, we were on our way to Philadelphia with letters of introduction from the Washingtons, an invitation to stay at the home of the wealthiest merchant in that city . . . and new identities.

Reluctantly, Daniel and I agreed to masquerade as newlyweds. We could think of no other way to insure the privacy we need to share the results of our investigation. After all, society prohibits unmarried men and women from spending time together without a chaperone.

I am not a practiced liar, and my cheeks heat each time our new marriage is toasted at a dinner party or ball. Nonetheless, the attraction that is growing between us seems to add veracity to our playacting. No one has questioned our counterfeit marriage, at least not yet.

I was certain that finding the counterfeiters would be a straightforward matter. I couldn’t have been more mistaken.

I was equally certain that our false marriage could tear us apart. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have been more correct.

The Counterfeit Wife, A Revolutionary War Mystery #2
Genre: Historical
Release: September 2022
Purchase Link

Philadelphia, June 1780. George Washington’s two least likely spies return, masquerading as husband and wife as they search for traitors in Philadelphia.

Months have passed since young widow Becca Parcell and former printer Daniel Alloway foiled a plot that threatened the new nation. But independence is still a distant dream, and General Washington can’t afford more unrest, not with food prices rising daily and the value of money falling just as fast.

At the General’s request, Becca and Daniel travel to Philadelphia to track down traitors who are flooding the city with counterfeit money. Searching for clues, Becca befriends the wealthiest women in town, the members of the Ladies Association of Philadelphia, while Daniel seeks information from the city’s printers.

But their straightforward mission quickly grows personal and deadly as a half-remembered woman from Becca’s childhood is arrested for murdering one of the suspected counterfeiters.

With time running out—and their faux marriage breaking apart—Becca and Daniel find themselves searching for a hate-driven villain who’s ready to kill again.

Meet the author
Mally Becker combines her love of history and crime fiction in mysteries that feature strong, independent heroines. Her debut novel, The Turncoat’s Widow, was nominated for an Agatha Award in 2022. Kirkus Reviews called it, “A compelling tale … with charming main characters.” The Turncoat’s Widow was also named a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion finalist and a CIBA Mystery & Mayhem finalist.

The Counterfeit Wife was published on September 20, 2022 by Level Best Books, and she is at work on the third installment in her Revolutionary War mystery series.

A member of the board of MWA-NY, Mally was an attorney until becoming a full-time writer. She’s also an instructor at The Writers Circle Workshops. She and her husband live in New Jersey, where they raised their wonderful son.

All comments are welcomed.