National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin (Bomb) starts his latest nonfiction odyssey with Pete McCartney's great train escape in 1864 western Pennsylvania. A counterfeiter who'd bribed his way out of many a jam, McCartney thought it might be harder to buy a pass from Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., and so decided to leap from a moving train.
McCartney's brother-in-law Benjamin Boyd was an even more gifted counterfeiter. Boyd's father, a master engraver, trained his son well, and his talents came to the attention of Nat Kinsey, a gifted platemaker himself. Kinsey trained the younger Boyd in the art of counterfeit plates. Boyd was "considered the best letterer on steel in the country, or the world." He was so good that the guys in his ring plotted to steal President Lincoln's corpse and hold it for ransom: Boyd's freedom from prison in exchange for the 16th president's body restored to his sarcophagus. (Ironically, President Lincoln was the one who signed into law the Legal Tender Act, which allowed the U.S. Treasury to print paper currency.)
Sheinkin begins with a true crime set-up as an entry point, then fills in details about the logistics of counterfeiting and the original mission of the Secret Service (to catch the counterfeiters), and spices up the account with delicious slang. "Shovers" moved the "coney" (counterfeit money) around; "ropers" informed on their pals; "body snatchers" or "ghouls" plucked newly buried corpses from the graves, often for good pay from the medical profession. The author sticks to the facts and never speculates. While describing a key meeting of the grave robbery plotters, he writes, "None of the participants kept a record of this closed-door meeting, but we can piece one together based on later events."
Sheinkin admitted on a BEA panel a couple years ago that, as a former textbook writer, "his best stories were rejected" by the textbook editors. Luckily for us, he kept those best stories for his own books. For budding history buffs and fans of detective stories, this tale of a thieving crew will keep readers riveted from start to finish. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: NBA finalist Steve Sheinkin's tale of a counterfeiting ring that plots to steal Lincoln's corpse to spring a skilled platemaker from jail will fascinate readers.