In February 1861, just days before he assumed to presidency, Abraham Lincoln faced a "clear and full-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 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 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 Stashower has crafted this spellbinding historical narrative with the pace and urgency of a thriller.

Introduction:Long, narrow boxes -- Part One: The cooper and the rail-splitter. -- Prologue: His hour had not yet come -- The apprentice -- How I became a detective -- Ardent spirits -- Pink lady -- Let us dare to do our duty -- It's coming yet -- Part Two. Plums and nuts. A pig-tail whistle -- Mobtown -- Suspicions of danger -- Hostile organizations -- The man and the hour -- If I alone must do it -- A postponed rebellion -- A rabid rebel -- A single red ballot -- Whitewash -- The music agent -- A few determined men -- An assault of some kind -- The assassin's knife -- Part Three: The martyr and the scapegoat. The flight of Abraham -- The hour of peril -- Some very tall swearing -- Epilogue: An infamous lie.