drey's library

It is 1865, and President Lincoln has just been assassinated. In the midst of the uncertainty in Washington D.C., detective Temple McFadden stumbles across a dead man – and the two diaries he carried with him. When he’s set upon almost as soon as he leaves the scene of the crime, Temple knows there’s something in those diaries that’s incriminating. The question is, what?When he realizes that one belongs to the President’s wife Mary, and the other to none other than John Wilkes Booth, Temple knows there’s more to the assassination than anyone knows. And so begins the crazily dangerous hide-and-seek game he plays as he tries to decipher the clues in his possession.The story is riveting. The pace, furious. The danger, palpable. Temple is tangling with very powerful men here, and barely survives. And when they start targeting his friends, Temple almost packs it in. But sheer stubbornness makes him keep slogging onward, because there is a conspiracy here, one he’s determined to uncover and unmask.I very much enjoyed the characters populating these pages, especially Temple’s wife Fiona, and his friends Augustus Spriggs, Nail, and Alexander Gardner. Sojourner Truth makes a few appearances, and is as feisty as I’d imagined her to be. And of course there are the villains. All are well-defined, all are interesting in their parts.I found that the language sometimes loses me, in that the words or the cadence are not quite familiar. And sometimes the story seems to be repeating itself – how many times can Temple evade death, anyway? And, I didn’t love the ending – there are still unanswered questions!But, the characters and the plot kept me turning the pages until the very last one. Good one for the history buffs!drey’s rating: Pick it up!