A little piece of heaven in PA

Although I’m back at UDPL this week, I was out on vacation for the first two weeks of May. The first thing everyone asked was, “Oh! Where are you going?” and I always answered honestly: my porch. Seriously, as a vacation destination, my porch is perfect: the travel time is negligible, the temperature is perfect, the beds are super comfy, I can bring my dog, they always get my food allergies right and it’s an excellent value for the money.

However, it wouldn’t be a true porch-cation without a good series to read! This time I landed on a surprising and thoroughly satisfying series: the George Porter Dillman & Genevieve Masefield series by Conrad Allen.  Eagle-eyed viewers may notice that I used the first book in this series as the sample for my post on making lists in our catalog. It had been sitting on my “To Read” list for a long time and that seemed like the perfect time to check it out.

The first book of the series is called Murder on the Lusitania. From our catalog:

“The year is 1907, and Cunard Line’s gleaming luxury liner Lusitania is about to set forth on her maiden voyage, which the British hope will shatter the North Atlantic speed record and provide bragging rights over the Germans. To make certain everything remains swell for the swells in first class, Cunard has yacht-builder-turned-actor-turned-detective George Porter Dillman, a Yank, planted among them. The passenger list is a who’s who of the usual suspects, including sporty spinster sisters, some rich folks whose daughter loves a glib Irishman who loves her money, a father-daughter team who are not what they appear to be, a pushy journalist, and a beautiful woman on the make for a nobleman with a beautiful bankroll. Besides the murder in the title, there is enough grand larceny to keep Dillman busy and enough of everything else to keep readers entertained. ”

There are eight books in this series, and despite the subject matter, they are all light and frothy. Reminiscent of the best Poirot travel tales by Agatha Christie, Allen is clearly an expert on the cruise liners of the early 20th century. The cruising world comes to life in his pages-I felt like I was boarding the ship myself!

So, if you’d like to take a little vacation yourself without all the messy bits, I highly recommend Murder on the Lusitania!