First Lie Wins; House of Lincoln

 

Two excellent fiction books. "First Lie Wins" was a twisty thriller about a woman named Evie--only Evie isn't her real name. Her real name is Lucca, and she works for a man she's only spoken to on the phone named Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith sends her to steal things from people, and she's very good at it. Her latest mark is a man named Ryan. Ryan is good looking and charming and has a big secret of his own--he deals in blackmarket goods through his trucking company. 

Evie is doing well with Ryan, they've moved in together and she's trying not to develop real feelings for him when a woman who could be her twin shows up in town and introduces herself as Lucca. She has Evie's backstory. Evie quickly realizes that Mr. Smith is setting her up to take a major fall and she has to act and think quickly to beat him at his own game. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. 

"House of Lincoln" was told from the point of view of a young lady named Ana, who is a Portuguese immigrant in Springfield, Illinois, in the 1850s. She works for Mary Lincoln and gets to know Abraham and admires him greatly. She has a front row seat for the presidential election in 1860 and is heartbroken when he's assassinated. 

The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer, since it was more about Ana and continues after both Mary and Abraham are gone. She and her husband, Owen, live in Springfield. After Owen dies, she's left alone to witness the challenges that black people still experience in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including a riot in 1909, where an elderly black man was lynched. It was well told and interesting.