"The Petersen House: The Oldroyd Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died" by Alan E. Hunter

When my pal Alan Hunter mentioned that he would be writing a book on the Petersen House in Washington D.C., I knew it was going to be something special.

I have mentioned Alan here several times before.  He does a GREAT weekly column for the Weekly View (out of Indianapolis IN) that you need to check out.

He also does the yearly ghost walk in Irvington Indiana.  If you have never done that, what is wrong with you?!?!!?  

If you have any interest in true crime and ghosts at all, you need to make sure you do this!  Alan knows his stuff, and he can link just about every scary person you can name to this town.  He actually doesn't disclose this often (though he does mention it in one of his books) but he crossed paths with one of Indianapolis' most infamous.  OH, and there is a GREAT President Lincoln connection that he ends the tour with...  but enough of that for now!

Alan has authored some of the best "Haunted" books I know of too.

BUT, I wanted to mention his latest work here- "The Petersen House:  The Oldroyd Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died".  If you are interested in Lincoln at all, you are going to want to track this one down.  In fact, its not that hard to find Alan E. Hunter on line and you can do what I did- order a nice signed copy directly from him!  Go ahead, you need this one for your collection!

Alan is obsessed with getting all of the interesting bits of information down.  Sure, we all know the story....  Ford's Theatre, Booth, the conspirators, etc.......  but the house where Lincoln was taken to after the shooting and dies is sometimes a forgotten character in the story.  Well, Alan has found lots of pictures, postcards, tickets, and other ephemera- and he has put those pieces together in this volume to tell the story of this home.

I don't want to give too much away, but Hunter gives some great nuggets of info to the reader starting with his description of the cover illustration.  He had me thinking about a somewhat obscure painter before I even started the book!

He tells you all about the building, its career as THE museum on Lincoln for some time and its evolving life from the time of Lincoln's visit until today.

Like I said, Alan Hunter loves those interesting bits of information that make you stop and think.  He lets you know about what became of the bed and pillow from that dark night.  He tells you to take notice of this person or that person, almost anonymously standing by the home in an old postcard and he tells you about their significance.  

Oh, if you are familiar with the entire story of the Lincoln assassination, you surely know the name Rathbone.  Well, I had no idea that the Rathbone name would factor in to the history of the Petersen home decades later.

I honestly could go on and on.  I am so glad to see a new book on Lincoln with new information.  Hunter's book on the Petersen House gets my highest recommendation.