The Cosgrove Report: Being the Private Inquiry of a Pinkerton's Detective Into the Death of President Lincoln - Hardcover

G. J. A. O'Toole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0892560916 ISBN 13: 9780892560912

Publisher: Rawson, Wade, 1979

Synopsis

The Cosgrove Report is both a gripping historical thriller and a new and entirely plausible solution to that still unanswered question: Why was Abraham Lincoln murdered? Republished to coincide with the bicentennial of Lincolnā€™s birth, this is a novel of immense power and imagination, based on meticulous research into the governmentā€™s official records of the assassination and the forgotten memoirs of many eyewitnesses. The novel opens when a recently discovered nineteenth-century manuscript falls into the hands of modern-day private investigator Michael Croft. His assignment is to verify the historical accuracy of the papers, which reveal the shocking cover-up of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the alleged capture and death of John Wilkes Booth. The manuscript itself, written by Pinkerton detective Nicholas Cosgrove, plunges both Croft and the reader back into post-Civil War Washington, where Cosgrove is hired by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to investigate rumors that Booth is still alive. His search brings him face-to-face with some of the most illustrious people of the period, and exposes a trail of lies and evasions equal to any modern day political scandal.

About this title

Review

Dazzling . . . A superior example of this genre.” Nicholas Meyer, author of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

George O’Toole has managed to catch us all in his net with The Cosgrove Report. A must for lovers of history and stylish writing, mystery fans, adventure and assassination buffs.” Arlene Francis

An enthralling, beautifully constructed mystery.” Harriet Van Horne

O’Toole makes such a convincing eyewitness, I almost suspect he was there. Don’t let anyone tell you how The Cosgrove Report ends.” Dilys Winn, Murder Ink; Murderess Ink

A humdinger of a mystery . . . transports us to a landscape at once familiar and as exotic as a sinister, murderous oz.” The Washington Star

By carriage, train, boat and balloon, Cosgrove stumbles on one denouement after another . . . novelist George O’Toole . . . follows sleuth and booth with verve, humor and impressive scholarship.” Time

An absolute delight . . . there are wheels within wheels that bring the fancier of history up with shocking suddenness . . . will appeal to the mystery fan who likes the feeling of being trapped in a mirror maze . . . not only is this good history, it is also good fun.” San Diego Union

O’Toole takes an era captured in daguerreotype and inflates it with enough life to give us a vividly vicarious understanding of the mid-19th century . . . the reader is brilliantly seduced onto the tightrope between face and fiction.” The Cleveland Press

Out of the ordinary . . . an imaginative mix of historical research and fictional extrapolation . . . the ending is as surprising as anyone could wish.” Los Angeles Times

Compelling . . . a stunning conclusion.” Grand Rapids Press

A gem . . . it truly takes the reader back to relive those days. But don’t let anyone tell you how the book ends . . . that would be cruel and inhuman treatment.” Memphis Commercial Appeal

Moves along at lightning speed . . . sprightly and intriguing . . . what gorgeous entertainment.” Columbus Dispatch

Fascinating . . . an exciting chronicle of what might have been . . . ending with a twist that should satisfy the most fanatical mystery aficionado.” Civil War Times

My hat is off to G.J.A. O’Toole. He has come up with an idea for a mystery so good . . . and he has brought it off with a flair that rivals Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time . . . ingenious and plausible . . . the research is meticulous.” Baltimore Sun

If you think there is no more mystery surrounding that assassination, you are dead wrong . . . a must for anyone to whom history is a wonderful old trunk in the attic, always full of dusty surprises.” Cleveland Plain Dealer

A political thriller based on a careful reading of history that will make a thrice-told tale seem completely different.” Boston Herald American

It has everything mystery, adventure, history, and a delightful unsuspected ending . . . fascinating characters, among them some of Washington’s most illustrious men . . . the unique tale of an American Sherlock Holmes.” Seattle Times Magazine

Startling. Don’t tell anyone how it ends.” The Pittsburgh Press

Contains more factual information about the truth of the assassination and the alleged conspiracy than I have seen in print anywhere . . . Lovers of mystery stories will find O’Toole a master teller of tales. This is the best of historical fiction from historical fact that you’re likely to find.” Cincinnati Enquirer

Rejoice, lovers of mystery and history. You’re in for a treat you’ll be talking about for a long time.” Newport News Daily Press

A first-rate thriller by any standards . . . a truly distinctive historical detective story. No one has done it any better.” Savannah News-Press Sunday Magazine

A tour de force of its kind.” Publishers Weekly

Edition details

• Publisher: Rawson, Wade
• Publication date: 1979
• ISBN 10: 0892560916
• ISBN 13: 9780892560912
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 424