The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt

by Burt Solomon

Overview

The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt is a historical thriller from award-winning political journalist Burt Solomon, featuring Teddy Roosevelt's near death...

September 3, 1902. Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Theodore Roosevelt has been president for less than a year when his horse-drawn carriage is broadsided by an electric trolley. Roosevelt is thrown clear but his Secret Service bodyguard is killed instantly.

Accident? Or assassination gone awry?

Roosevelt has earned enemies galore and is convinced of foul play. He sets John Hay, the secretary of state, to investigate. Hay will cross paths with Emma Goldman and J.P. Morgan to discover the truth… and along the way he will pick up a sidekick, the crusading journalist Nellie Bly.

Blending real events and novelistic logic, Hay uncovers a shocking solution that may protect the man who wants to transform the nation, but at the cost of upending the compass of his own life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765392688
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/17/2020
Series:	The John Hay Mysteries , #2
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	445,861
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

BURT SOLOMON is a contributing editor at The Atlantic and the author of The Murder of Willie Lincoln, his first John Hay novel, as well as the acclaimed Where They Ain’t, a history of baseball in the 1890s. At National Journal, where he covered the White House and other aspects of Washington life, he was awarded the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. He and his wife live in Arlington, Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

[Solomon has] a gift for mining fascinating nuggets from my city's past.”—George F. Will, columnist at The Washington Post

“Solomon skillfully blends historical fact with plausible fiction.”—The Buffalo News

“Historian Solomon’s meticulous details and the real-life figures woven into the narrative make it both informative and entertaining.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Hay is a fallible, engaging character with interests in boxing and poetry as well as sleuthing, and his narration brings to life a time and place as it unravels a crime.”—Booklist

“Historical mystery fans who relish rich period details will be eager to see Hay again.”—Library Journal

“An inherently riveting historical mystery by an author who is a master of the genre…”—Midwest Book Review

“… a splendid tale of mostly fiction set in the first year of TR’s service as president.”—New York Journal of Books

Praise for The Murder of Willie Lincoln
“Solomon offers a deeply imagined and entirely plausible account of the Lincoln White House at its saddest…You won’t guess whodunit until the final, suspenseful page.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Well-plotted, beautifully researched and gripping to the final page.”—Daniel Stashower, author of The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War

“Vivid, captivating, and, dare I say, seductively plausible.”—John Taliaferro, author of All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt

“An original plot, plausible characterizations of historical figures, and solid prose combine to make this historical fiction debut a winner.”—Publishers Weekly

“The puzzle is plausibly immersive, the solution heartrendingly surprising…Solomon portrays Hay as an effective, likable sleuth and compelling political player.”—Booklist

“An engaging roman a clef…here’s hoping that Mr. Solomon finds something else for John Hay to apply his fertile mind.”—The Washington Times

“The pace and characterizations in this mystery are superb. The historic backdrop is expertly painted, and everyone’s talk rings true: slave, free, secesh, Lincoln, even lascivious Kate Chase. But do not expect the expected ending.”—James M. Cornelius, Curator, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, Springfield, Ill.

From the Publisher

12/01/2019

In 1902, while touring New England, President Theodore Roosevelt is involved in an accident when his carriage is broadsided by a streetcar, killing his bodyguard. Roosevelt is convinced this was no accident and calls on his secretary of state, John Hay, to investigate the matter. Hay assisted President Lincoln with the investigation of his son Willie's death (The Murder of Willie Lincoln) is no stranger to detective work. Because Roosevelt succeeded President McKinley after his assassination at the hands of an anarchist, Hay begins with the anarchists, including the well-known rabble-rouser Emma Goldman. Besides Goldman, Hay's investigation puts him in the path of other well-known figures, including Henry Adams, J.P. Morgan, and even journalist Nellie Bly. The anarchist theory is quickly discarded, and Hay soon finds that the answer lies closer to home than he ever could have suspected. VERDICT Solomon incorporates many historically accurate events, details, and characters into this engaging story, based on an actual incident. Historical mystery fans who relish rich period details will be eager to see Hay again.—Melissa Stoeger, Deerfield P.L., IL

Library Journal

2019-09-15
A suspicious accident that almost gets the president killed prompts a Cabinet member to turn sleuth.

In early September 1902, a runaway trolley car collides with the carriage of Theodore Roosevelt, who's campaigning in Massachusetts. Secret Service bodyguard Bill Craig is crushed to death. Most everyone considers this a freak accident, but the president, who looked into the eyes of the trolley's motorman, is convinced that the goal was his death. Solomon (The Murder of Willie Lincoln, 2017, etc.) assigns the telling of the tale to Roosevelt's secretary of state, John Hay, who feels bound to investigate. The police chief, at first evasive, ultimately admits that his department has investigated the French Canadian motorman, Euclid Madden. Because he and the conductor have been indicted, Madden's lawyer will not allow him to speak further until the inquest. Craig's funeral further inspires a sense of duty in Hay, who intermittently dives into The Hound of the Baskervilles for investigative inspiration. After Madden surprises everyone by pleading guilty to manslaughter, Hay questions him, and something doesn't seem right. Though plagued with self-doubt, Hay determines to probe further. As he proceeds, the president himself becomes his sounding board along with Clara, Hay's outspoken wife. Emancipated journalist Nellie Bly, Roosevelt's close friend and adviser George Cortelyou, and billionaire J.P. Morgan all figure prominently in his investigation, Bly even playing Watson to Hay's Holmes. It takes a second murder to bring the entire affair into sharp focus.

Historian Solomon's meticulous details and the real-life figures woven into the narrative make it both informative and entertaining.

Kirkus Reviews