Murder at the Capitol

by C. M. Gleason

Overview

A mysterious murder leads presidential aide Adam Quinn to a Confederate spy ring in this “clever mystery” by the New York Times–bestselling author (Kirkus Reviews).
 
July 4, 1861. On Independence Day, the citizens of Washington, D.C., are celebrating as if the country hasn’t gone to war. But the city is teeming with Union recruits, and President Lincoln is at work with his War Department on a military strategy that will bring the conflict to a swift end. Manassas, Virginia, near Bull Run Creek, is in their sights.
 
As Congress convenes the next morning, a dead body is found hanging from the crane beneath the unfinished dome of the Capitol. Lincoln’s confidant, Adam Speed Quinn, is called upon to investigate what he soon determines to be murder. Working with Dr. George Hilton and journalist Sophie Gates, the former scout finds himself up against a Confederate sympathizer running a female spy network. She has an insidious plot to foil the Union Army’s march to Manassas—and it involves sending one of her most charming spies to get as close to Quinn as possible.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496724007
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	01/28/2020
Series:	Lincoln's White House Mysteries , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	72,595
File size:	749 KB

About the Author

C. M. Gleason is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stoker & Holmes series for teens, in addition to the Lincoln’s White House Mysteries. She lives in the Midwest and is hard at work on her next novel. Learn more at: cmgleason.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/09/2019

At the start of Gleason’s superior third Lincoln’s White House mystery (after 2018’s Murder in the Oval Library), set in July 1861, Southern sympathizer Pinebar Tufts, an assistant examiner in the Patent Office’s civil engineering division, enters the partially completed Capitol, where an assailant hits him on the head. The next day, Tufts’s body is discovered hanging from a crane beneath the building’s half-finished dome. The grim find is reported to series lead Adam Quinn, a frontiersman who has become a member of Abraham Lincoln’s security team. African-American physician George Hilton, a friend of Quinn’s, examines the corpse and confirms Quinn’s suspicions of foul play. A complicated murder inquiry ensues. Quinn must probe Tufts’s killing at a particularly fraught time, as Washington, D.C., residents anxiously await the “big battle” that they hope will settle the Civil War in the Union’s favor. Gleason effectively integrates historical subplots, including a Southern spy ring, into the main story line. Owen Parry fans will be pleased. Agent: Maura Kye-Casella, Don Congdon Assoc. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for C.M. Gleason's Murder at the Capitol

"A riveting historical mystery set on the eve of the first major battle of the Civil War. Fans of descriptive historical mysteries will appreciate the mix of real people and intriguing fictional characters." 
—Library Journal (Starred Review)

"At the start of Gleason’s superior third Lincoln’s White House mystery (after 2018’s Murder in the Oval Library), set in July 1861, Southern sympathizer Pinebar Tufts, an assistant examiner in the Patent Office’s civil engineering division, enters the partially completed Capitol, where an assailant hits him on the head. The next day, Tufts’s body is discovered hanging from a crane beneath the building’s half-finished dome. The grim find is reported to series lead Adam Quinn, a frontiersman who has become a member of Abraham Lincoln’s security team. African-American physician George Hilton, a friend of Quinn’s, examines the corpse and confirms Quinn’s suspicions of foul play. A complicated murder inquiry ensues. Quinn must probe Tufts’s killing at a particularly fraught time, as Washington, D.C., residents anxiously await the “big battle” that they hope will settle the Civil War in the Union’s favor. Gleason effectively integrates historical subplots, including a Southern spy ring, into the main story line. Owen Parry fans will be pleased." 
—Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review)

“Murder at the Capitol is Gleason’s strongest offering yet in an already solid series…It takes a gifted writer to weave together vivid history, three-dimensional characters, and examination of moral issues while still providing a satisfying mystery, and Gleason pulls this off seemingly with ease.” 
—Historical Novel Society (Editor's Choice Selection)

Praise for C. M. Gleason’s previous  Lincoln’s White House Mysteries 
 
Murder in the Oval Library

“An excellent mystery combined with brilliant historical detail.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A simply riveting read from cover to cover, as author C. M. Gleason exhibits a genuine flair for deftly crafted storytelling and a mastery of the historical mystery genre.”
—Midwest Book Review

“This story abounds with historical characters as well as fictional ones . . . This is a great novel for those who like their mysteries in a historical setting.” 
—New York Journal of Books

“It would have been easy for Gleason to focus only on the murder, but she goes further by providing rich detail about this brief yet fascinating period of the capital’s history . . . Gleason masterfully raises the tension surrounding the murder in tandem with the desperation and fear of the city’s inhabitants . . . Highly recommended.”
—Historical Novel Society

Murder in the Lincoln White House
 
“History, mystery, and a little romance combine with a diverse cast of characters . . . This crisp look at our nation’s capital on the brink of pivotal history balances well with the mystery at hand and achieves the right blend of both . . . Well-known historical figures share the pages with the fictional ensemble, capturing an authentic portrait of the period and adding layers to both the plot and the setting. Perfect for mystery fans as well as Lincoln/Civil War aficionados.”
—RT Book Reviews, Top Pick 

Praise for the previous works of C. M. Gleason
 
“Exhilarating . . . Sure to please.” 
—The New York Times Sunday Book Review
 
“Wonderfully witty . . . deliciously dark and delightfully entertaining.” 
—The Chicago Tribune

“Witty, intriguing, and addictive.” 
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2020

As Congress gets ready to reconvene after the Independence Day celebrations in 1861, Piney Tuft's body is found hanging from a crane in the Capitol rotunda. Wannabe journalist Sophie Gates insists they inform Adam Quinn, a one-armed frontiersman, who is part of President Lincoln's security team. Now he is the president's murder investigator. With the help of Dr. George Hilton, a black freedman, Adam deduces that Tuft's death was not suicide. By the time a second body is discovered near the Capitol, Adam is deep into the case, and Sophie is contending with a prominent socialite whose father is being blackmailed and wants Sophie to find the blackmailer and save her upcoming wedding. VERDICT Gleason follows Murder in the Oval Library with a riveting historical mystery set on the eve of the first major battle of the Civil War. Fans of descriptive historical mysteries will appreciate the mix of real people and intriguing fictional characters.—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Library Journal

2019-10-28
July 4, 1861, finds the U.S. teetering on the brink of the First Battle of Bull Run, an engagement many think will end the Civil War quickly.

Washington is bursting with Northern troops waiting to fight. But the longer nothing happens, the more trouble they cause in a sleepy town woefully unprepared to feed and house them. Aspiring reporter Sophie Gates is on her way to attend a session of Congress when she runs into Constance Lemagne, a Southern belle she'd met while helping presidential aide Adam Quinn solve several murders. Adam's a frontiersman and old friend of President Abraham Lincoln's, who's given him the power to investigate all sorts of problems (Murder in the Oval Library, 2018, etc.). When Sophie and Constance find a man hanging from a crane in the Rotunda, they know just whom to call. Adam, an expert tracker, can tell by the footprints at the scene that the man was murdered and calls upon his friend George Hilton, a black man constantly in danger despite his status as a physician, to help prove it. The dead man, Pinebar Tufts, worked at the Patent Office. His wife, who claims that he had no enemies, admits that he recently had more money and hinted at plans for a better future. When Constance's father is gravely injured in a carriage accident and the doctor caring for him wants to amputate his leg, a desperate Constance goes to Hilton for help, arriving just in time to save him from thugs who have already beaten him badly. Sophie doesn't trust Constance, who fiercely believes in the Southern way of life, but still befriends her, along with Felicity Monroe, a stunning young society woman whose upcoming nuptials are the talk of the town. The next to die is the night watchman at the Capitol. Soon after, Sophie discovers a dangerous secret involving Felicity, and Constance undertakes a spy mission for the Rebels. Adam may have his hands full, but plucky Sophie is always there to help as their romantic feelings blossom.

A clever mystery whose historical setting painstakingly dramatizes the many evils of slavery.

Kirkus Reviews

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