new memphis press

The Man in the Barn: Digging Up Lincoln's Killer is a provocative modern thriller that explores the mystery behind John Wilkes Booth's death. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. Afterwards Booth jumped to the stage and shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis," and miraculously managed to flee the capital on horseback with a broken leg. Twelve days later, Union forces surrounded the assassin and shot him dead at Richard Garrett's barn in Virginia. That's what the history books will tell you. But for over a century, others have argued a political conspiracy reaching the highest levels of government perpetrated the greatest hoax ever played on the American public...and that Booth, who was working on behalf of the vice-president, escaped. In The Man in the Barn: Digging Up Lincoln's Killer, an ambitious young journalist, Daniel Boland, believes he has discovered the true story behind those historic events. With the reluctant aid of his friend, Dr. Al Pearson, a disgraced former psychiatrist, Boland sets out to reveal a cover-up - past and present - of epic proportions. But in doing so, Boland and Pearson traverse a very dangerous path...and the closer they get to the truth, the more perilous their journey becomes.