The beat goes on where our 16th president and The Civil War are concerned. Before Booth and his "loser" cohorts decided to kill Lincoln, his Vice President and Secretary of State

after Lee's surrender, they had planned to kidnap Lincoln and to hold him hostage. Other groups had similar intentions: all failed to launch. Prisoner exchange renewal and peace negotiations were among the varied motivations for Lincoln's removal. THE LINCOLN CAPER novel takes the conspiracy thing a notch higher. It's speculative history meets imaginative reality with a steady dose of suspense that incorporates threat and danger. The story concludes with a two-pronged military chase and rescue, pushing the what-if historical novel genre to new dramatic heights--into the suspense/adventure/thriller realm. Besides Lincoln, of course, historical figures prominent in the Lincoln administration are included in the story as well. A subtle subplot love interest between the two prominent private citizens who are instrumental in the rescue adds to the depth of the ongoing story line. Richmond, Virginia and New York City cotton brokers are the axis of the plot to kidnap Lincoln, then hold him hostage while using him as a bargaining chip in getting what the South wants: its independence from the North. The cotton brokers on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line want the war to end so they can make money again. Lincoln is their main obstacle to ending the war after four long years of the violent struggle and the loss of profit from decreased cotton sales and other merchandise that the South so desperately needs, which the New York merchants can so readily supply. Profits enter into the reasons for stopping the Civil War between the states as well as partriotism and the stopping of the seemingly unending bloodshed and killing of the nation's young men.