Swanson James L.

James L. Swanson is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, upon which his young adult title, Chasing Lincoln's Killer is based. He has written for a variety of publications, including The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He is the coauthor of Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution, and he is a member of the advisory committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

"My fascination with our sixteenth president began when I was a young boy," Swanson explains. "On my tenth birthday, my grandmother gave me an unusual present: an engraving of the Deringer pistol John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, framed by a newspaper article published on the day after the assassination. The newspaper article described some aspects of the assassination, but was cut off before the end. I knew I had to find the rest of the story."

James L. Swanson lives in Washington, D.C, with his wife and two sons. For more information about him, please visit http://www.jameslswanson.com/