The Lincoln Deception

This superbly researched, brilliantly plotted, and thoroughly gripping mystery draws readers into a sinister conspiracy of assassination and intrigue.

In March 1900, as former congressman John Bingham lies dying, he tells a strange tale to his physician, Dr. Jamie Fraser. Bingham famously prosecuted eight members of John Wilkes Booth’s plot to kill President Lincoln. But during the 1865 trial, conspirator Mary Surratt divulged a secret so explosive it could still shatter the republic. It is a secret Bingham takes to his grave—and a mystery that awakens Fraser’s curiosity.

Bored with his small-town medical practice, Fraser begins to investigate, securing an ally in Speed Cook, a black, college-educated professional ballplayer and would-be newspaperman. Both of them agree that the accepted version of Lincoln’s assassination somehow rings false. Was Booth truly the mastermind—or were other, more powerful forces behind it all?

Following a trail across the country, the unlikely pair tracks down key figures and witnesses, uncovering a long-hidden story of greed, ambition, courage, and tragedy. But there are those who want the story to stay buried—and are more than willing to bury Fraser and Cook along with it.

Blending real and fictional characters, The Lincoln Deception is an “entertaining, educating, and elevating” mystery that explores one of the nation’s darkest and most fascinating eras, and the plot that changed world history (David L. Robbins).