title: Murder on the Celtic: A Mystery
author:  Conrad Allen 
description: A dangerous fugitive and a series of thefts mar a voyage the <i>Celtic</i> makes in 1910 from New York to London in Allen's satisfying eighth shipboard mystery to feature the husband-wife detective team of Bostonian George Porter Dillman and Englishwoman Genevieve Masefield (after 2006's <i>Murder on the Oceanic</i>). While the lovely Genevieve fends off suitors vying for her affections (the pair conceal their marriage supposedly for more efficient sleuthing), she and George are on the lookout for Edward Hammond, a thief wanted for murder who might have sneaked on board. Among the legitimate first-class passengers is novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose cherished first edition of his novel <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>which introduced the character of Sherlock Holmesgoes missing. The light, well-executed plot will live up to the expectations of Allen's fans. <i>(Mar.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Chapter1
  
  Bavaria, 1828
  
  
  Paul Hill felt the first stab of true panic—a young woman was wearing what he
  thought was one of his sister's gowns. And if he was not mistaken, she was
  also wearing a gold locket he had given Lauren on her sixteenth birthday.
  Standing in the dank foyer of a perfectly gothic castle, Paul feared he had
  arrived too late. As the woman searched for someone who could make some sense
  of his pathetic attempt at German, he wondered helplessly if once again he
  would find himself in a situation where he would be unable to help his sister.
  Swallowing past a lump of rising panic, he thought there could be a perfectly
  reasonable explanation as to why the woman was wearing Lauren's clothes and
  jewelry, though at the moment, that perfectly reasonable explanation escaped
  him.
  
  He shifted, leaning against his cane to take the pressure from his crippled
  leg. If it were not for his infirmity, he might have been able to save her two
  years ago. He might have been