Death in the Moonlight

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most loved and the single most despised president in American history. Scholars continue to write about and debate his every word. In each generation many people seek to claim him as their own while others try to slander or disown him entirely, No American can ignore him.

In my novel, Lincoln's famous, "A House Divided" speech is witnessed by August Dietrich, a reporter who supports the abolition of slavery and Thaddeus Chapel, who defends the "peculiar institution." Their perceptions of the speech and the man differ widely. When they hear rumors that Lincoln suborned perjury and falsified evidence to save the son of an old friend from the gallows, they form an unlikely alliance to search out the truth, whatever it is, Chapel and Dietrich travel together to hear and report about the Lincoln-Douglas debates. They interview Lincoln jointly about his personal, religious and political views.

They also interview the principals involved in the Duff Armstrong murder case, the most famous trial In Lincoln's legal career. In the end they draw their own conclusions about the enigmatic senatorial candidate and about the death in the moonlight.