Murder at the Capitol (Lincoln’s White House Mystery)
In this entertaining third entry in the Lincoln’s White House Mystery series, Gleason takes readers on a romp through Civil War-era Washington, D.C. When Congress reconvenes the morning after the Independence Day festivities in 1861, the members discover a body hanging from a crane in the unfinished Capitol dome. Once again, President Lincoln’s friend and former Kansas frontier guard Adam Speed Quinn is called upon to find the killer before he can strike again.
Gleason paints a rich picture of mid-19th-century Washington, D.C., in all its putrid glory: Murder Bay, the stinking Washington City Canal, the slaughterhouse near the unfinished Washington Monument, and the sooty bakery in the basement of the Capitol. Equally vivid are her portrayals of the variety of people who populated the city, including slaves, Southern sympathizers, freemen and women, Unionists, and, of course, President Lincoln.
Murder at the Capitol is Gleason’s strongest offering yet in an already solid series. While Gleason adds depth to all four of her main characters, free black man Dr. George Hilton and Southern belle Constance Lemagne benefit the most. While Miss Lemagne’s attitudes toward African Americans are still reprehensible by today’s standards, Gleason wields her better in this novel than ever before, adding a delicious, unresolved ironic twist to Lemagne’s character arc that promises a sequel.
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. Fans of the series will be thrilled with this new installment, and newcomers will find themselves ordering the first two books before they’ve even finished this one. Highly recommended.
