Books: More in Anger

THE JUDGES OF THE SECRET COURT (255 pp.)—David Stacton—Pantheon ($3.95).

"Historical novelists seldom write in anger. In telling about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his killer, John Wilkes Booth, and the near-farcical trial of Booth's fellow "conspirators," Author Stacton is clearly angry, but not at Booth; shrewdly enough, he treats him with pitying contempt. His target is the injustice that was done not only to Booth's largely duped friends but to the murderer's family as a result of his tragically stupid and criminal act.

The story is familiar, but Author Stacton gives it dramatic freshness with a spare, stabbing style and attention only...