In February of 1861, just days before he assumed the presidency, Abraham Lincoln faced a "clear and fully-matured" threat of assassination as he traveled by train from Springfield to Washington for his inauguration. Over a period of thirteen days the legendary detective Allan Pinkerton worked feverishly to detect and thwart the plot, assisted by a captivating young widow named Kate Warne, America's first female private eye.
As Lincoln's train rolled inexorably toward "the seat of danger," Pinkerton struggled to unravel the ever-changing details of the murder plot, even as he contended with the intractability of Lincoln and his advisors, who refused to believe that the danger was real. With time running out Pinkerton took a desperate gamble, staking Lincoln's life―and the future of the nation―on a "perilous feint" that seemed to offer the only chance that Lincoln would survive to become president. Shrouded in secrecy―and, later, mired in controversy―the story of the "Baltimore Plot" is one of the great untold tales of the Civil War era, and Stashower has crafted this spellbinding historical narrative with the pace and urgency of a race-against-the-clock thriller.
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2013
Winner of the 2014 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime
Winner of the 2013 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction
Winner of the 2014 Anthony Award for Best Critical or Non-fiction Work
Winner of the 2014 Macavity Award for Best Nonfiction
Introduction: Long, Narrow Boxes
Prologue: His Hour Had Not Yet Come
Chapter 2. How I Became a Detective
Chapter 5. Let Us Dare to Do Our Duty
Chapter 9. Suspicions of Danger
Chapter 10. Hostile Organizations
Chapter 11. The Man and the Hour
Chapter 12. If I Alone Must Do It
Chapter 13. A Postponed Rebellion
Chapter 15. A Single Red Ballot
Chapter 18. A Few Determined Men
Chapter 19. An Assault of Some Kind
Chapter 20. The Assassin’s Knife
Chapter 21. The Flight of Abraham
Chapter 23. Some Very Tall Swearing