James L. Swanson

James L. Swanson wrote American narrative history focused on the final stages of the Civil War and the Lincoln presidency. Bloody Crimes follows two journeys after the Confederacy's collapse: Jefferson Davis's flight and capture, and Abraham Lincoln's funeral train from Washington to Springfield. Published in 2010, the book uses newspapers, letters, official records, and eyewitness accounts to place the parallel events within a nation moving from war into remembrance. Swanson's earlier book Manhunt traced the search that followed Lincoln's assassination and received an Edgar Award. He later adapted related subjects for younger readers and wrote about the Kennedy assassination in End of Days. Bloody Crimes demonstrates his characteristic method of organising a large historical record around movement, timing, and sharply observed scenes. Its paired structure contrasts a defeated political leader's escape with the elaborate public rituals surrounding Lincoln's return to Illinois.