Killing McKinley

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KILLING McKINLEY: A fascinating novel that brings back to life a dramatic era in U.S. history now strangely overlooked despite its chaotic challenges and conflicts that mirror America's current struggles.

A COMPELLING HISTORICAL THRILLER about the assassination of one of our nation's most significant presidents, who is amazingly unknown to most Americans.

The dawning of a new century shines bright, but the glorious sunshine of a September day in New York is shattered by a fiery blast. The shock thundered across America and changed the world forever… in 1901.

That opening passage sets the scene for both the powerhouse novel and epic screenplay written by Matthew Spencer on the assassination of President William McKinley, who faced some of the most hostile and dangerous critics ever to roam America despite being one of the most popular leaders ever elected to the White House.

Spencer, a former longtime New England sports reporter and award-winning Nebraska magazine writer takes us deep into this amazing period of U.S. history in an edgy debut novel with a gripping style that will have readers tearing through the pages.

Both the novel, "Killing McKinley," and screenplay, "Terror in Buffalo," begin with a band of American soldiers marching in a strange land who are swept up in a sudden battle against fierce Muslim warriors. This thrilling page-turner races on as America faces terror from anarchists, fears of immigration and the class warfare between the business tycoons and the hopeless millions facing the depths of poverty.

The novel, "Killing McKinley," and the screenplay “Terror in Buffalo” both explore in dazzling detail amazing layers about this presidency, including the obscenely botched surgery during the most important operation in world history. The book also shares the touching love story of President McKinley as a tireless care provider for the first lady, Ida, who was stricken by epilepsy and nearly bed-ridden with depression over the deaths of their two children.

Many other fascinating real characters in American history jump off the pages as Spencer paints detailed portraits of the assassin, Leon Czolgosz, as well as a unique look at Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Geronimo, and the bizarrely brilliant scientist Nikola Tesla. Spencer also takes us into the worlds of firebrand anarchist Emma Goldman, the first Karl Rove of politics, Mark Hanna, China's most prolific diplomat, Wu Ting-Fang, as well as the black hero who thwarted the assassin but later had his reputation destroyed by the Secret Service. There are even portraits of the ferocious literary giant of anarchists who physically was a dwarf, as well as an odd duck of a woman who became the first person to safely plunge down Niagara Falls, and the 9-ton giant of the Buffalo world's fair, Jumbo the Elephant.

Spencer's poetic cadence and dazzling imagery rushes alongside the stunning Niagara Falls and his descriptive journey treats us to a visual feast of the spectacular structures and architecture at Buffalo's Pan-Am Expo, but he also takes the readers deep inside the shocking stereotypes at the Midway exhibits of the world's fair's Southern Plantation, and Filipino and African villages that carnival barkers hawk in racist jargon.

You'll never forget this amazing era in America history that's brought to life with Mr. Spencer's unique writing style.

Early Winning Review

“Matthew Spencer’s Killing McKinley is a superbly researched historical suspense novel about one of America’s most popular—yet overlooked—presidents.