The Lincoln Secret is a historical mystery-adventure novel set in modern-day America. Founded upon several historical theories about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, the novel takes the reader through Abraham Lincoln's life and death while the characters work to unravel several mysteries from that period. The story follows two main characters: Sean Johnson, a reporter in Seattle, who is researching a theory that Abraham Enloe fathered Abraham Lincoln; Kim Poole, a woman in Kansas City, who uncovers a family secret that her ancestor changed his last name over fear of something related to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. A professor of history at University of Tennessee who specializes in Lincoln soon joins the mix, as does his sister, Mary Fester, an Enloe family historian living in Phoenix. There are sinister forces at work against them, a fact the reader understands better than the characters. The story’s primary settings are Denver and a region of the south covering portions of Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The novel also visits the Lincoln Birthplace National Park in Kentucky and the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum complex in Springfield, Illinois. The story culminates in a search to find a secret left over from General Sherman’s occupation of Atlanta and his march across Georgia to the sea.

The core mystery in The Lincoln Secret is whether Abraham Lincoln’s father was really Thomas Lincoln. A documented version of history holds that Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln’s mother, became pregnant while working in Abraham Enloe’s household as a servant girl. She was sent back to Kentucky in disgrace where she secretly had the child after marrying Thomas Lincoln. The Lincoln Secret probes into the topic of who Abraham Lincoln’s father really was and raises doubts about when he was really born. Also featured are the mysteries surrounding Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and involving General Sherman’s capturing of Atlanta during the Civil War.