Plotted like a step-by-step thriller, Murder on the Baltimore Express tells how Abraham Lincoln almost didn’t become president.
Murder on the Baltimore Express: The Plot to Keep Abraham Lincoln from Becoming President by Suzanne Jurmain. Yellow Jacket (Little Bee), 2021, 223 pages + bibliography and index.
Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12
Recommended for: ages 10-15
You think times are tense today? In 1861, the United States was at a boiling point. The election of 1860 had been bitterly contested with four candidates on the ballot, and in the free-for-all Abraham Lincoln of Illinois emerged on top. He wasn’t exactly popular: southerners, especially, saw him as the most anti-slavery candidate and the greatest threat to their economic security. If he was elected, they threatened an end to the United States. And they meant it: 43 days after Lincoln was declared the winner, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Within weeks, six other states followed. Maryland was not one of them, but the state was a hive of radicals, especially in Baltimore.
When an up-and-coming detective heard of a developing plot to murder Mr. Lincoln, he was on the case. Was there anything to the rumor, and if so, how cold the President-elect safely make it to D. C. for his inauguration? The story is plotted like a step-by-step thriller, during which we meet some interesting historical characters as the tension ratchets up. The style is sometimes a bit too breathless, more so than warranted by events, but it’s a good story well told. The times were indeed perilous, and the consequences dire. May the United States never face quite that level of tension again.
Consideration:
- The author quotes a number of historical documents and letters, including few curse words.
Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)
- Worldview/moral value: 3.5
- Artistic/literary value: 4.5
Read more about our ratings here.
Also at Redeemed Reader:
- Reviews: Lots of Lincoln books, from the strange to the studious. The weird: Abe Lincoln’s Dream and Abe Lincoln, Pro Wrestler. More studious: It’s Up to You, Abe Lincoln, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, and Lincoln & Douglass.
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Check the date of the election of Lincoln.
Fixed it–thanks!