Author Description

U.S. Marshal Clay McDowell believes that indicted Lincoln assassination conspirator Mary Surratt is innocent. He reasons that the evidence against her is circumstantial and there s no solid proof that she was among those plotting to kill President Abraham Lincoln. And, even if she were to be found guilty, America would never hang a woman. McDowell s superior disagrees. Someone s really going to pay, he maintains. Who better than Mary Surratt? Hang her and you really underscore the seriousness of the crime. The Plot, concerns a Kentucky lawman s involvement in combatting a Confederate plan to kidnap President Lincoln or members of his family as a means of ending the Civil War. That effort finally leads to the President s assassination as McDowell, federal lawman for the Eastern District of Kentucky, joins with U.S. Marshals from Virginia, Maryland and Washington City in an attempt to derail the clandestined activity. McDowell deals with spies, a counterfeiting ring, and, finally, the participants in Lincoln s assassination in this fast-paced historical fiction novel. Along the way, McDowell falls in love with an actress he has recruited to spy on John Wilkes Booth and his compatriots. The Marshal is involved in a number of armed conflicts with the conspirators and their associates and is a witness at the concluding trials as four, including Mary Surratt, are executed. There s a dǰ ̉vu twist to the surprising ending, adding another dimension to an event that changed the nation.