( 8 reviews )
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Posted: Mar 17 2009
With a title to entice one to expect a connection to John Wilkes Booth (perhaps his ghost) and the happenings of April 14, 1865, the reader will be sadly disappointed. This being the first Margaret Truman-penned book for me to be even slightly interested in reading, I was not prepared for something so mundane. It was full of politics, not so much mystery. The elderly British movie star who got no respect in America put on a show as demented spouting Shakespeare: "to be" (to go on living) or "not to be" (to take his own life) emulated Booth's actions at times. Some prurient characters ruin the story which might have historical significance had not the premise fallen into morass. One historical fact I did not know was that the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was around the circle from Watergate, which has its own stigma, faced the Reflecting Pool, with the Capitol on the other end, had been copied from the view by the Taj Mahal and Versailles. Another bit of history is that in 1965, Ford's Theatre was restored and opened again as a working theater and proclaimed a National Historic Site. The British spelling was used as back then all things British were considered superior to USA (Jack, now you know!)
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Mar 5 2009
I have read many of her books. I found this one better than a lot of her others. I kept me going and I finished it in 2 days.
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Posted: Mar 22 2008
This is my first encounter with a Margaret Truman mystery; I choose this audio book after reading her obituary. I did enjoy the experience overall - she had a very engaging writing style. There are spot-on descriptions of characters that fall into classic archetypes. And the book is full of rich detail on the Washington and arts milieu. I especially appreciated how facts about Lincoln's life and death were made relevant through various characters. However, I found the story itself serviceable; there were several plausible suspects to keep me guessing, but not much action or twists.
