Murder at Ford's Theatre - Margaret Truman [0]
It was the site of one of the most infamous assassinations in American history. Now bestselling mystery master Margaret Truman premieres a new murder at Ford’s Theater—one that’s hot off today’s headlines.
The body of Nadia Zarinski, an attractive young woman who worked for senator Bruce Lerner—and who volunteered at Ford’s—is discovered in the alley behind the theatre. Soon a pair of mismatched cops—young, studious Rick Klieman and gregarious veteran Moses "Mo" Johnson—start digging into the victim’s life, and find themselves confronting an increasing cast of suspects.
There’s Virginia Senator Lerner himself, rumored to have had a sexual relationship with Nadia—and half the women in D.C. under ninety… Clarise Emerson, producer/director of Ford’s Theatre and ex-wife of the Senator, whose nomination to head the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is now threatened by the scandal… Jeremiah Lerner, her aimless, hot-tempered son, said to have been sleeping with Nadia when his famous father wasn’t… Bernard Crowley, the theatre’s controller, whose emotions overflow at the mention of the crime… faded British stage star Sydney Bancroft, desperate for recognition and a comeback, and armed with damning information about Clarise Emerson… and other complex characters from both sides of the footlights.
With her unparalleled understanding of Washington and its players, and her savvy sense of how strange bedfellows cut deals even in the midst of mayhem, Margaret Truman always delivers the most sophisticated and satisfying suspense. Murder at Ford’s Theatre is her most compelling, insightful novel yet, sure to earn her a standing ovation from her many fans and new followers alike.
Murder at Ford’s Theatre
A Novel by
Margaret Truman
Capital Crimes Series: Book 19
Copyright © 2002
by Margaret Truman
eISBN: 978-0-345-45870-4
Author’s Note
In 1861, John T. Ford, an American theatrical entrepreneur with successful theaters in Baltimore and Richmond, took a five-year lease on Washington’s Tenth Street Baptist Church with the intention of adding it to his list of theaters. After renting it for the first year to George Christy’s famous Christy Minstrels, and after a major renovation, it officially opened as Ford’s Theatre in March 1862. The theater was gutted by fire nine months later. Ford’s Theatre reopened in August of 1863 and went on to present 573 performances until, on April 14, 1865, it was the scene of the assassination of our sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
I offer this not as a slice of well-known historical fact, but to make a linguistic point. Note that I’ve spelled theater two ways: theater and theatre. Although Mr. Ford was an American, the British influence in America was pervasive in those days. It still is among those of certain pretensions who, well, consider things British to be more erudite, including the spelling of words.
The British spell it theatre. In American English, it’s theater.
Alas! What to do? Using alternate spellings throughout the book would prove a confusing distraction to readers, to say nothing of copy editors.
To resolve this dilemma, I turned to my editor and friend, Sam Vaughan, whose wisdom in such things is unassailable. Because the scene of the murder is Ford’s Theatre, spelled with the British “tre,” theater is spelled theatre throughout the book. I consider this a sensible solution, and trust you will, too. If it should cause you a problem, please take it up directly with Sam.
MARGARET TRUMAN
New York City
CHAPTER ONE
TRAVEL GUIDES CLAIM that the average high temperature in Washington, D.C., in September is seventy-nine degrees Fahrenheit. But on this particular Tuesday, the day after a long Labor Day weekend, the thermometer read eighty-one at seven in the morning, which meant ninety was a possibility by noon, a hell of a time for Johnny Wales’s air conditioner to decide to crash. It had ground to a halt sometime during the night; it had to have been between two in the morning when Wales returned