Paging Detective Crosetti ...

I have to admit, I've walked by Manhunt about ten times in the bookstore, and never thought to pick it up. Probably because every time I saw the book, I would think of ill-fated Detective Steve Crosetti from the late, lamented series Homicide. He spent the entire first two seasons bothering his partner with his pet theories about who really killed Lincoln. It was a nice touch for a homicide detective character, and I remember thinking it was a smart parody of many people's obsession with the Kennedy assassination.

This article in today's New York Times makes Swanson sound like a real-life Crosetti. Not that he's a conspiracy theorist. Just that he's got that monomaniacal touch that makes people interesting to read about. His fixation started early:

Mr. Swanson owns all four of the known wanted posters advertising $100,000 rewards for the capture of Booth and his co-conspirators. He bought the first for $2,000 when he was 19, with money he saved working at a Chicago can manufacturing plant throughout high school. "Some people saved their money to buy a car; I wanted the reward poster," Mr. Swanson said.

And there's no question it continued on through his writing.

During the three years that it took him to write the book, Mr. Swanson said he all but imprisoned himself in his house. He listened only to Civil War-era music and read original documents from the time. He purchased a full run of The Chicago Tribune from April through July 1865 as well as originals of The New York Herald, spreading the papers over the length of his 14-foot dining room table to study every detail, for days at a time. ... For breaks from his isolation, Mr. Swanson would clear out his papers and give impromptu parties to reconnect with his high-powered friends in the outside world — and, no doubt, to generate interest in his project.

At this point, I'm tempted to pick up the book. I could still take or leave the subject matter, but I would love to get inside his head and see what kept him so interested in those twelve days.

"When I [Univeristy of Chicago Professor John Hope Franklin] read the book I smiled and said, 'There is James.' "

Yeah, that.