A Debut Thriller
Releasing June 12, 2026
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A secret buried before liberty. A conspiracy that could destroy it.
A secret buried before liberty. A conspiracy that could destroy it. When forensic investigator Derek Starr accepts a routine commission at a colonial estate in Annapolis, he expects portraits and plaster ceilings. What he finds — hidden inside a two-hundred-year-old picture frame — changes everything. A concealed document. A cipher with no key. And a single line in a hand that hasn’t moved in two centuries: “For the Republic, when the Republic needs it.” As Derek follows the trail — through Philadelphia archives, Revolutionary War graveyards, and a hidden tunnel beneath Valley Forge — he begins to understand what he has found: the last safeguard of the founders, buried where it would survive any catastrophe, meant only for the moment it was most needed. But Derek isn’t the only one who has been looking. Victor Ashworth has spent thirty-six years on this trail. He is patient, well-resourced, and prepared to do what is necessary to reach the end of it first. The founders buried it for a reason. Some men spend a lifetime searching for things that were never meant to be found.
Also in the Works
Forensic investigator Derek Starr returns, drawn by a relic of the Spanish conquest into a mystery the New World was meant to forget.
In the works
A gothic descent into old blood and older secrets, where an ancient evil stirs beneath candlelight and ritual.
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About the Author
Kevin Hartman is a storyteller fascinated by the hidden histories woven through the places we think we know. The Washington Cipher is his debut novel.
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News & Events
Kevin Hartman's debut thriller arrives in hardcover, eBook, and audio.
The cover for The Washington Cipher will be unveiled here soon.