Publisher Description
“It’s history that reads like a race-against-the-clock thriller.” —Harlan Coben
Daniel Stashower, the two-time Edgar award–winning author of The Beautiful Cigar Girl, uncovers the riveting true story of the “Baltimore Plot,” an audacious conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War.
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 with The Hour of Peril Stashower has crafted a 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
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“Stashower explains
how Allan Pinkerton, a temperamental Scottish cooper turned ‘fierce and
incorruptible lawman’ and founder of the Pinkerton Agency, sought to infiltrate
and obfuscate a murderous group led by Cypriano Ferrandini, an outspoken
Italian barber in Baltimore. Interwoven with the tale of Pinkerton and
company’s efforts to foil what would become known as the Baltimore Plot,
Stashower offers a rich portrait of a resolute but weary Lincoln as he makes
his way, both politically and physically, to the White House. As everyone
knows, he arrived without incident, but while he saved his skin, he lost some
respect for stealing into the capital ‘like a thief in the night,’ as one
newspaper put it. The book starts out slowly, but once Stashower lets the
Pinkerton operatives loose, their race against time as Lincoln’s train speeds
toward Maryland makes for an enthralling page-turner that is sure to please
true-crime, thriller, and history fans.”—
Publishers Weekly
