It’s September 3, 1902, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Theodore Roosevelt has been president for almost a year, and he is finishing up a campaign tour of New England. He is heading for the neighboring town of Lenox when an electric trolley comes hurtling down a hillside and broadsides his horse-drawn carriage. Roosevelt, thrown 30 or 40 feet, is injured more seriously than it seems at the time. His Secret Service man is killed under the trolley’s wheels. The motorman is charged with manslaughter and sentenced to 60 days in jail.

An accident, the history books say. In my tale, an attempted assassination. 

TR is an extraordinary man, bursting with talents, his virtues—and his flaws—larger than life. In less than a year as president, his provocative actions have left a trail of political enemies, ranging from anarchists to the industrial trusts. There is no shortage of suspects who want him gone.  Roosevelt asks John Hay, his secretary of state and old chum, to investigate. Hay is a poet and a boxer and a likeable companion who is battling personal demons of his own. His investigation crosses paths with celebrities of the age—Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Henry Adams, Mark Hanna, Nellie Bly.

Readers will become immersed in a tumultuous era of American history—technology was vaulting ahead, the U.S. was becoming a world power—that will still feel familiar today. This novel offers history that goes down easy and is entertaining—and suspenseful—along the way.

The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt is available starting December 3, 2019, at bookstores everywhere and at online retailers—Amazon.com or through Macmillan Publishers.

Check out my essays for Strand Magazine and CrimeReads.com on the uses of historical research in crafting a mystery:
https://strandmag.com/just-the-facts-the-attempted-murder-of-theodore-roosevelt/
https://crimereads.com/in-praise-of-the-richly-detailed-historical-crime-novel/