Bloody Crimes

The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse

By: James L. Swanson

Narrated by: Richard Thomas

In Bloody Crimes, James L. Swanson—the Edgar® Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Manhunt—brings to life two epic events of the Civil War era: the thrilling chase to apprehend Confederate president Jefferson Davis in the wake of the Lincoln assassination and the momentous 20 -day funeral that took Abraham Lincoln’s body home to Springfield. A true tale full of fascinating twists and turns, and lavishly illustrated with dozens of rare historical images—some never before seen—Bloody Crimes is a fascinating companion to Swanson’s Manhunt and a riveting true-crime thriller that will electrify civil war buffs, general readers, and everyone in between.

A Perfect Tribute

This amazing book fills in many details of the Lincoln funeral and the last years of Jefferson Davis. Mr. Swanson treats both men with dignity and tenderness, and you find yourself swept up in the drama both men experienced. Describing both with alternating stories made the book even more compelling. Fascinating information about the memorials of each man put a capstone on this book. And through it all, Richard Thomas’s narration could not have been more perfect. I’m sure I will return to listen again. It’s that good!

Not as good as Manhunt

Bounces around a little. Retelling of the Lincoln Assassination to set the stage followed by the hunt for Jeff Davis with the Lincoln Funeral and trip home to Springfield. Might have benefit from fox s.

Not as good as manhunt

This book is well read, but the writing is not as good as manhunt. Swanson seems to have a personal dislike for Mary Lincoln which is not backed up by facts in the book. Every statement about her seems to be tainted with the idea of her being a bad person, as opposed to the widow or Jeffery Davidson. don't buy it.

Excellent perspective on history.

I especially enjoyed the perspective by the author of the similarities of President Lincoln and President Davis. Bloody Crimes was a very interesting historical read.

good, but not great

Bloody Crimes is a good book, but not a great one. Unlike Swanson's previous book in this series, about the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth and his fellow conspirators, this book does not have an adventure at its core, nor the pacing the a detective-story-like volume is the natural consequence of its subject. I would give the earlier book a "5" had I listened to it (I read it). This book gets a "3." But the book itself is bumpy, uneven. With respect to the flight of Jefferson Davis, there have been better books on this subject. Davis gets short shrift here, little new information. With respect to Lincoln, the new material relates to the funeral and the long trip from Washington DC to Springfield. This is interesting, in its way. In part I was interested because my paternal great-grandmother saw Lincoln's body in Cleveland on that trip (it is one of the few things I know about her).

Although the funeral portion is new, it is also the most uneven part of the book. Long passages describing orders-of-march, planning, peoples' clothing and such are interspersed with the politics of the time & the players (politics & players being the more interesting of these two). Swanson could have done some editing here to help the book move along (of course, one of the weaknesses of audio is that you cannot easily skim through such passages).

If you are willing to tolerate this uneveness, there are good parts too. The excellent narration by Richard Thomas helps to save it.