First published 2013
February 1861. Abraham Lincoln's train carries him toward Washington and his presidential inauguration. It also carries him toward Baltimore, where conspirators wait to kill him. Detective Allan Pinkerton has thirteen days to uncover the assassination plot and save Lincoln's life. Working alongside Kate Warne, America's first female private detective, Pinkerton pieces together fragments of the conspiracy while Lincoln and his advisors dismiss the threat as fantasy. The train rolls closer to danger each day. Pinkerton's investigation reveals an ever-shifting web of plotters, but time runs short. With conventional protection impossible, Pinkerton devises a desperate stratagem that gambles everything on deception. The detective must outwit the assassins, overcome Lincoln's stubborn resistance to changing his plans, and execute a dangerous ruse that offers the only path to survival. Success means Lincoln reaches Washington alive to lead a fracturing nation. Failure means the president dies before he can take office, and America's future dies with him.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, detective, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: deception, race-against-time, underdog
Setting: Baltimore, Washington
Period: 1861
368 pages · Hardcover · Minotaur Books