Radical speculation

Stephen L. Carter moves into speculative fiction with The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln (Knopf, $26.95), set in a history where the president survived Booth’s bullet, but his vice president Andrew Johnson died. Two years later, Lincoln’s facing impeachment by the radical wing of his party and his defending law firm includes a black female law clerk, Abigail Canner. When the firm’s senior partner is murdered, Abigail steps into a murder mystery that’s also a political thriller. Carter’s well-written historical fiction isn’t that far-fetched—Johnson was impeached in 1868—but it’s far more engaging than one might expect.