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

G.J.A. O'Toole has left us an extraordinary novel, "The Cosgrove Report: Being the Private Inquiry of a Pinkerton Detective into the Death of President Lincoln." In this book, the imaginary Pinkerton detective takes the assignment to investigate rumors about President Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. By the time you've read 20 pages, the plot has begun to widen and thicken and takes on more backstories and subplots than flies on a porkchop left on the grill overnight. There were, after all, pro and con north and south civil war combatants all of whom were interested in this murder. Additional stories come from the officers and men who maintain and monitor military installations and undercover missions as well as a host of underlings involved in Washington City, and federal government officers not to mention U. S. Grant and President Johnson who is about to be impeached. In all, we get to meet many of our favorite American political and military figures in the highest echelons of government at the time of the president's assassination and afterward. This book is stunning in its historical accuracy down to the most minute details of setting, language, and social attitudes. Finally, a second piece of the novel is the annotation by Michael Croft that follows the text as it moves through the plots and subplots verifying and emending the facts of the scene, its players, and the minutiae of the period. Mr. Croft has also given us a length Foreward and an Afterward to the book. "The Cosgrove Report" is surely a masterpiece of plots skillfully woven together by author O'Toole and is encyclopedic in the sheer volume of informtion provided. In my opinion, however, while the book is heads above anything else I've read on the topic, the book fails as a novel. The referencing and annotations distract from the narrative and seemed to stand in the way of the protagonist and other characters with whom one would ordinarily identify. As historical fiction, the "novel" should have been primary and here the non-fiction aspects often get in the way of the expected tension. The many conflicting forces were all there, but the annotation made the book "feel" like a newspaper or magazine report. I recommend "The Cosgrove Report" to serious students of history interested in the many questions surrounding the Lincoln/John Wilkes Booth tragedy and to those generally interested in details of that time and place in the American past. But, sadly, the raw feelings excited by a book about a loved and hated president and the missing cadaver of the villain are upstaged by the non-fiction "asides".

While I have always been a history buff, the American Civil War has never been one of my interests, so I was surprised when this book "called my name." I am happy I responded to it, however--this is an amazing story! Written as if it was a true memoir of the times (Victorian narration, vocabulary and all) with a modern-day framework, the story follows Nicholas Cosgrove, a "secret detective" who works for Allan Pinkerton and his organization. Cosgrove, out of the country when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, returns several years later only to have Pinkerton ask him to determine the whereabouts of John Wilkes Booth's grave, and if the assassin's body is still there, for there are rumors that Booth is still alive. When Cosgrove eventually finds the site, the body is gone, replaced with stones. Thus begins Cosgrove's odyssey, from the office of the Secretary of War to the impeachment controversy over Andrew Johnson, to the home of Matthew Brady and as far north as the streets of Brooklyn and beyond. I can't even express how much I enjoyed this book; it all felt quite real to me, from the unfinished streets of "Washington City" to the swamps of Maryland to the countryside of Rockville--even Cosgrove's feats of derring do near the conclusion of the story. If you enjoy historical mysteries with multiple subplots and fascinating characters, this is highly recommended!

I don't recall what prompted me to check out this book but I'm certainly glad I did. I've always enjoyed reading about Civil War era history. This book is written in the style of the time, incorporating the characters of the era. Ignoring the actual plausibility of some of the plot conclusions, it spins a wonderful story, one that any casual student of the Civil War will enjoy immensely. I certainly did.

I just read the two previous reviews of this book and was mildly disappointed. "The Cosgrove Report" has a literary dimension that goes well beyond the suggestion that its basically a pretty well-written historical "who-done-it." I stumbled upon it while rotating a bookrack late one night next to the checkout counter of a 7-11. I was bored and just looking for something to read me to sleep. Something about the title and the cover caught my attention, so I bought it...but with minimal expectations. When I got home, and was settled in bed, I picked it up and began to read...and continued reading throughout the night. What is neither stated nor implied in the other reviews is that the book is an incredibly well-crafted piece of writing! O'Toole has created not only a provocative historical novel, but also has artfully woven through the story, a story within a story, within the story (i.e., one up on "The French Lieutenant's Woman"). In other words, it is not only a highly polished, quasi-fictional historical piece, but is also a very unusual, challenging, and highly accomplished piece of creative writing! In part, because of this book, within a few months I moved to Washington, D.C. (from Bellingham, WA), to see what I could of what was left of Cosgrove's/Lincoln's Washington (not the least of which was a mysterious subterranean chamber on the west side of the Capitol building). Was it there? After you read this book, you may want to go look for yourself. P.S. Some readers might find Cosgrove's 19th century writing style a little too wordy and, at times, obtuse. But if you like Shakespeare (or T.S. Eliot), you'll feel quite at home...perhaps reading well through the night!

Michael Croft, a modern-day private investigator, comes by a manuscript from the 19th century. His job is to verify that this manuscript is factual. The manuscripts itself deals with a man called Nicholas Cosgrove, a private detective working for an agency called the Pinkerton agency. The secretary of war, Edwin McMasters Stanton, to find John Wilkes Booth, hires the agency. Cosgrove discovers the many cover-ups used by a great many leaders in connection with Abraham Lincoln's death. Booth, after having fled with David Herold, was aided by confederate supporters. At a Dr. Stuart's house Booth was replaced by another, to lead away troops. Herold accompanied the fake Booth and when discovered on a farm shot the man. General Lafayette Baker, one of the main conspirators, claimed that the man was Booth after breaking one of his legs to make him look accurate. At Dr. Stuart's house Booth sent two messages, one of which was addressed to A. Johnson. After Cosgrove reported this to Stanton he insisted Cosgrove start working proving the president, Andrew Johnson, in league with Booth. Cosgrove promptly resigned from the Pinkerton agency and as a favor to his former employer, Pinkerton, took on a case similar to that he had just done. Senator Edmund G. Ross was undecided in the impeachment trial against Johnson and so hired Cosgrove to discover anything about the conspiracy surrounding Lincoln's assassination. Suspicion clouds both Johnson and Stanton in the Lincoln assassination but Cosgrove is convinced neither had foreseen the assassination though Stanton had known about a kidnapping attempt that was supposed to take place at Lincoln's inaugural address. Eventually Booth is found to be acting as a magician called professor Haselmayer, a character who haunts Cosgrove's dreams. The beginning was boring but once Cosgrove finally discovers Booth isn't dead he uncovers a great many conspirators, and people with much to hide. Cosgrove follows Booth's trail, reasons for the assassination, and interesting information about the people are noted by Croft. Overall I liked the book. The historical value it had was accurate, and very interesting. A great deal of responsibility comes with power. The actions taken by important political figures for the country or their own gain affected the country greatly. Stanton was a very important political figure who felt it was his responsibility to first allow the kidnapping to Lincoln to take place in order to frighten the president into harsher reforms in the South, and to hire Cosgrove to prove that President Johnson was responsible for Lincoln's death. While the two made errors with consequences that affected the country other officials conspired to kill the president for their own gain. With this they were thinking of a responsibility to only themselves while others suffered. Blackmail on the part of subordinates in the assassination allowed all others needed in the case to prove a body was Booth's. This was t