Fords Theatre

Ford’s Theatre in downtown Washington, DC, is best known as the scene of Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865. It is among the oldest and most visited sites of national tragedy in the United States. First constructed in 1833 as a Baptist church, the property was acquired by John T. Ford and converted into a theater in 1861. Presenting almost 500 performances before the assassination, Ford afterward sold the building to the federal government. A century later, the National Park Service reconstructed the theater, and Ford’s Theatre Society began presenting live performances there in 1968. Since then, the two organizations have partnered to offer more than 650,000 annual visitors an array of quality programming about Lincoln’s presidency and legacy. Today, patrons can explore the Tenth Street “campus,” consisting of the theater, interactive museum galleries, the house where Lincoln died, and the Center for Education and Leadership.

It was the site of one of the most infamous assassinations in American history. Now bestselling mystery master Margaret Truman premieres a new murder at Ford’s Theater–one that’s hot off today’s headlines. The body of Nadia Zarinski, an attractive young woman who worked for senator Bruce Lerner–and who volunteered at Ford’s–is discovered in the alley behind the theatre. Soon a pair of mismatched cops–young, studious Rick Klieman and gregarious veteran Moses “Mo” Johnson–start digging into the victim’s life, and find themselves confronting an increasing cast of suspects. There’s Virginia Senator Lerner himself, rumored to have had a sexual relationship with Nadia–and half the women in D.C. under ninety. . . . Clarise Emerson, producer/director of Ford’s Theatre and ex-wife of the Senator, whose nomination to head the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is now threatened by the scandal . . . Jeremiah Lerner, her aimless, hot-tempered son, said to have been sleeping with Nadia when his famous father wasn’t . . . Bernard Crowley, the theatre’s controller, whose emotions overflow at the mention of the crime . . . faded British stage star Sydney Bancroft, desperate for recognition and a comeback, and armed with damning information about Clarise Emerson . . . and other complex characters from both sides of the footlights. With her unparalleled understanding of Washington and its players, and her savvy sense of how strange bedfellows cut deals even in the midst of mayhem, Margaret Truman always delivers the most sophisticated and satisfying suspense. Murder at Ford’s Theatre is her most compelling, insightful novel yet, sure to earn her a standing ovation from her many fans and new followers alike.

It was a sad generation that limped past 1865. Almost every family had been touched by death, and many had been torn apart as sons, brothers, and fathers chose different sides in the Civil War. Murder at Fords Theatre is a history of an assassination with the Civil War as its tragic backdrop and with characters to match this tragedy. There was Lewis Paine, the devoted follower and David Herold who wanted desperately to belong and lose his reputation as an untrustworthy loafer. There are tragic failures of Mary Surratt and Dr. Samuel Mudd, as well as Abraham Lincoln, unappreciated by the public until his martyrdom. Lincoln refused security and put himself in harms way. Harm came in the form of John Wilkes Booth, an acclaimed actor, who wanted to save his beloved South and believed there was only one way to accomplish his goal. Booth had grown up with his own demons--depression and odd behavior were part of his family background. His darker side was hate. When the war broke out, Booth took up the southern cause -- the rest of the family sided with the North. Lincoln was a perfect object for Booths hatred. He suspended Habeas Corpus, put many anti-war advocates in jail, continued the war with its grisly pile of human deaths, refused to negotiate a treaty, and wrote Emancipation Proclamation. Booth, who had spent the war in a noncombat position at the behest of his mother, received news of the end of the war with increased anger. Soon it would be too late to become a hero. His hasty and disorganized plan to assassinate Lincoln went awry. Booth did shoot Lincoln, but during his escape he broke his ankle, an injury that slowed him and led to his capture and death. Only the Bible has been written about more than the Civil War, and the assassination of Lincoln is a part of that story. This is that story.

April 14, 1865. A famous actor pulls a trigger in the presidential balcony, leaps to the stage and escapes, as the president lies fatally wounded. In the panic that follows, forty-six terrified people scatter in and around Ford’s Theater as soldiers take up stations by the doors and the audience surges into the streets chanting, “Burn the place down!” This is the untold story of Lincoln’s assassination: the forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night, and what each of them witnessed in the chaos-streaked hours before John Wilkes Booth was discovered to be the culprit. In Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination, historian Thomas A. Bogar delves into previously unpublished sources to tell the story of Lincoln’s assassination from behind the curtain, and the tale is shocking. Police rounded up and arrested dozens of innocent people, wasting time that allowed the real culprit to get further away. Some closely connected to John Wilkes Booth were not even questioned, while innocent witnesses were relentlessly pursued. Booth was more connected with the production than you might have known—learn how he knew each member of the cast and crew, which was a hotbed of secessionist resentment. Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination also tells the story of what happened to each of these witnesses to history, after the investigation was over—how each one lived their lives after seeing one of America’s greatest presidents shot dead without warning. Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination is an exquisitely detailed look at this famous event from an entirely new angle. It is must reading for anyone fascinated with the saga of Lincoln’s life and the Civil War era.

From the bestselling author of Tides of Honour and Promises to Keep comes a poignant novel about a young couple caught on opposite sides of the Second World War. In the fall of 1939, Grace Baker’s three brothers, sharp and proud in their uniforms, board Canadian ships headed for a faraway war. Grace stays behind, tending to the homefront and the general store that helps keep her small Nova Scotian community running. The war, everyone says, will be over before it starts. But three years later, the fighting rages on and rumours swirl about “wolf packs” of German U-Boats lurking in the deep waters along the shores of East Jeddore, a stone’s throw from Grace’s window. As the harsh realities of war come closer to home, Grace buries herself in her work at the store. Then, one day, a handsome stranger ventures into the store. He claims to be a trapper come from away, and as Grace gets to know him, she becomes enamoured by his gentle smile and thoughtful ways. But after several weeks, she discovers that Rudi, her mysterious visitor, is not the lonely outsider he appears to be. He is someone else entirely—someone not to be trusted. When a shocking truth about her family forces Grace to question everything she has so strongly believed, she realizes that she and Rudi have more in common than she had thought. And if Grace is to have a chance at love, she must not only choose a side, but take a stand. Come from Away is a mesmerizing story of love, shifting allegiances, and second chances, set against the tumultuous years of the Second World War.