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CHARLES ROSENBERG
THE BOOKS
The Day Lincoln Lost
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An inventive historical thriller that reimagines the tumultuous presidential election of 1860, capturing the people desperately trying to hold the nation together—and those trying to crack it apart.
Abby Kelley Foster arrived in Springfield, Illinois, with the fate of the nation on her mind. Her fame as an abolitionist speaker had spread west and she knew that her first speech in the city would make headlines. One of the residents reading those headlines would be none other than the likely next president of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln, lawyer and presidential candidate, knew his chances of winning were good. All he had to do was stay above the fray of the slavery debate and appear the voice of compromise until the people cast their votes. The last thing he needed was a fiery abolitionist appearing in town. When her speech sparks violence, leading to her arrest and a high-profile trial, he suspects that his political rivals have conspired against him.
President James Buchanan is one such rival. As his term ends and his political power crumbles, he gathers his advisers at the White House to make one last move that might derail Lincoln's campaign, steal the election and throw America into chaos.
A fascinating historical novel and fast-paced political thriller of a nation on the cusp of civil war, The Day Lincoln Lost offers an unexpected window into one of the most consequential elections in our country's history.
A 2020 Sidewise Award
For Alternative History
Finalist
A 2018 Sidewise Award
For Alternative History
Finalist
The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington
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A thought-provoking novel that imagines what would have happened if the British had succeeded in kidnapping General George Washington, for fans of alternate histories like The Plot Against America, The Guns of the South and The Man in the High Castle.
British special agent Jeremiah Black, an officer of the King’s Guard, lands on a lonely beach in the wee hours of the morning in late November 1780. The revolution is in full swing but has become deadlocked. Black is here to change all that.
His mission, aided by Loyalists, is to kidnap George Washington and spirit him back to London aboard the HMS Peregrine, a British sloop of war that is waiting closely offshore. Once he lands, though, the “aid by Loyalists” proves problematic because some would prefer just to kill the general outright. Black manages—just—to get Washington aboard the Peregrine, which sails away.
Upon their arrival in London, Washington is imprisoned in the Tower to await trial on charges of high treason. England’s most famous barristers seek to represent him but he insists on using an American. He chooses Abraham Hobhouse, an American-born barrister with an English wife—a man who doesn’t really need the work and thinks the “career-building” case will be easily resolved through a settlement of the revolution and Washington’s release. But as greater political and military forces swirl around them and peace seems ever more distant, Hobhouse finds that he is the only thing keeping Washington from the hangman’s noose.
Drawing inspiration from an actual kidnapping plot hatched in 1776 by a member of Washington’s own Commander-in-Chief’s Guards, Charles Rosenberg has written a compelling novel that envisions what would take place if the leader of America’s fledgling rebellion were taken from the nation at the height of the war, imperiling any chance of victory.
Write to Die
ISBN-13: 978-1503937611
Hollywood’s latest blockbuster is all set to premiere—until a faded superstar claims the script was stolen from her. To defend the studio, in steps the Harold Firm, one of Los Angeles’s top entertainment litigation firms and as much a part of the glamorous scene as the studios themselves. As a newly minted partner, it’s Rory Calburton’s case, and his career, to win or lose.
But the seemingly tame civil trial turns lethal when Rory stumbles upon the strangled body of his client’s general counsel. And the ties that bind in Hollywood constrict even tighter when the founder of the Harold Firm is implicated in the murder. Rory is certain the plagiarism and murder cases are somehow connected, and with the help of new associate Sarah Gold—who’s just finished clerking for the chief justice—he’s determined to get answers. Will finding out who really wrote the script lead them to the mastermind of the real-life murder?
Paris Ransom
ISBN-13: 978-1477827710
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Lawyer Robert Tarza is surprised when his young, beautiful and wealthy French girlfriend, Tess, proposes marriage. It’s not that he doesn’t love her, but even after five years, there’s a lot about her he doesn’t know.
But Robert has to put his personal life on hold when his friend Oscar Quesana shows up outside Tess’s Parisian apartment clutching a mysterious package, with a thief hot on his heels. Oscar has somehow acquired a priceless old book.
When Robert and his former protégée, Jenna James, see Oscar shoved into a car and abducted, they find themselves entangled in unexpected intrigue. Robert, Tess and Jenna must quickly determine who is friend and who is foe in order to rescue Oscar before it’s too late. Along the way, Robert might just make some astonishing discoveries about those he holds dear.
Long Knives
ISBN-13: 978-1477817520
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Jenna James’s life has been smooth sailing since she left the high-powered law firm of Marbury Marfan. She’s happily ensconced as a professor at a prestigious law school, where she’s well liked by her students, coupled-up with a handsome colleague, and on track for tenure. But things take a shocking turn one morning when a student, Primo, comes to Jenna’s office seeking her advice about a treasure map he recently inherited. When Primo turns up dead and Jenna is suddenly the prime suspect in a murder investigation, everyone turns on her. Desperate for help, she calls on two old friends: Robert Tarza, her old law partner from Marbury Marfan, and Oscar Quesana, an odd-duck solo practitioner. The three race to save Jenna’s career—and perhaps her life—in this whip-smart thriller of treasure maps, murder, and law school politics.
Death on a High Floor
ISBN-13: 978-1477809464
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When much-despised Marbury Marfan senior partner Simon Rafer turns up in a cold pool of blood with an ornate dagger in his back, it comes as a surprise to no one—least of all to Robert Tarza, who is first on the scene. A long-time partner at Marbury, Tarza knows dozens of attorneys in the firm who had good motive to want Rafer in the ground. But despite his own decades of conflict with Rafer—and a recent heated quarrel over a rare ancient coin Simon bought from him—Robert never imagined that homicide Detective Spritz would zero in on him as prime suspect.
As Spritz’s case builds with uncanny speed, Robert quickly falls from his respected position at Marbury to a criminal being dragged through the tabloids. Along with his kick-butt defense attorney, Jenna James, he is forced to play detective in a race to find the real killer—and uncovers a web of fraud amongst his closest colleagues in the process. In the end, only Jenna’s untested trial skills can keep him out of prison.