Taking a second look at history

The row houses of F Street were more colorful and ornate. Ford's Theatre had a smaller lobby and a bigger stage. Even the forests of Northern Virginia were different. They had more oaks, fewer pines, and much greater density than I expected. But that's why I went. As I wrote last year after visiting the settings for three novels, writers cannot get a true feel of a place without seeing it in person. So this week I traveled once again to Washington, D.C. and put some lingering questions to rest.

Unlike in August, when I gave the capital a brief inspection, I was thorough. I walked miles of the city's streets, visited important historic sites, and did the kind of research one can only do in the District of Columbia. As a result, I learned a lot about places that will be featured in The Lane Betrayal, my current work in progress.

Among other things, I learned that row houses are cool. Really cool. Even those without black-wrought-iron gates, sash windows, and ornamental facades evoked a much earlier time. So did Ford's Theatre, which is still a functioning performance hall. Though President Lincoln's suite was less lavish than I imagined, the theater itself was grand. I had no difficulty picturing the place on April 14, 1865, when it became a tragic footnote in American history.

Like Ford's, the Round Robin Bar, with its circular bar and oak-paneled walls, has changed little in a century and a half. Part of the luxurious Willard Hotel, it is still a go-to site in the capital.

For that reason, I set three chapters in the fabled bar. I set one in the Star Saloon, where John Wilkes Booth mulled his plot over a bottle of whiskey. Now a commercial space, the saloon is adjacent to Ford's.

When I wasn't visiting venues, I was researching them at several museums and the Library of Congress. Among my top finds were old maps of Maryland and Virginia, native plant guides, and information on early settlements in what became the federal city. I plan to include what I found in the novel.

The Lane Betrayal, the first book of the Time Box series, is now in its second revision. I hope to publish the novel in early April.