George Dillman sets sail from Liverpool to New. 'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title. A maritime mystery from Edward Marston, author of the bestselling Railway Detective series.September 1907. (Dec.)Ĭopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. With little violence, much description of jewelry, some intrigue and plenty of stiff upper lips, Allen's confection may overcome its predictable elements to find warm admirers. He will, however, please some fans of historical drawing-room murder, especially the Anglophiles.

Allen won't win awards for his prose ('Having been given so little in the way of evidence, he now felt that he had far too much and it was causing confusion'). When Dillman discovers Bancroft murdered by a grisly blow to the head, only he can find the real killer. Someone has snatched the secret diagrams that explain the Lusitania's wiring, and someone-the same culprit?-has stolen a Stradivarius from world-famous violinist Itzak Weiss. It's not long before Dillman discovers difficult puzzles to solve. Meanwhile, pushy journalist Henry Bancroft tries hard to scoop his rivals, and the aristocrats who populate the book's margins pursue their various schemes. Posing as a first-class passenger on the Lusitania's 1907 maiden voyage, he ingratiates himself with ship's surgeon Lionel Osborne, flirts mildly with young Violet Rymer, assists the troubled American Ellen Tolley, befriends the adventurous Genevieve Masefield and keeps an eye on potential card sharks and con men. Suave, smart and handsome, George Porter Dillman seems to be the perfect man for his job as the Cunard Line's private detective.

Lusitania held the Blue Riband prize for the fastest Atlantic crossing and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania.Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is relaunched for a new generation of readers.Allen kicks off a projected series of mysteries set on famous ocean liners with this well-crafted high society whodunit. But after some uneventful days aboard, the ship's blueprints are stolen and then a body is found.As Dillman works to get to the bottom of the crimes, he makes an unusual friend, first-class passenger Genevieve Masefield, and the two uncover secrets aboard the ship that prove explosive.The Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk in 1915 by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. Posing as a passenger, Dillman is in fact an undercover detective hired by the Cunard Line to keep an eye out for petty crimes. George Dillman sets sail from Liverpool to New York on the Lusitania's maiden voyage. A maritime mystery from Edward Marston, author of the bestselling Railway Detective series.September 1907.

Murder on the Lusitania by Conrad Allen