Book Review: Abraham Lincoln: Detective

Review: Abraham Lincoln: Detective by Allen Appel

reviewed by Larry Kahaner

Allen Appel is a local author whose series of historical thrillers featuring time traveler Alex Balfour I first read several years ago. The books were fun and proved that he could make history fascinating and rewarding while delivering an exciting mystery as well. He's done it again with a new mystery series titled, Abraham Lincoln: Detective. I asked him how he came up with the idea. “While doing the research on Lincoln for the last time travel book, I discovered that Lincoln had defended 36 murder cases in the course of his career. Only a few of these court cases are widely known, so I decided to begin a series of novels and short stories that featured a new case in each entry,” Appel said. The first book, available on Kindle, concerns the Trailor Mystery, which Lincoln himself wrote about. Lincoln's longtime law partner, William Herndon plays Watson to Lincoln's Holmes and they are aided and abetted by a young Mary Todd in their search to uncover the mystery behind a Springfield visitor who is missing and presumed dead. You can download the book for your Kindle, iPhone, iPad, PC or Mac. I think it's a terrific series.