Capitol Hill at Night, by Thomas Hawk at flickr.com

Destination: Washington D.C.

Are you setting off for the inauguration? No? Good choice.  Wait until the crowds thin out.

All eyes turn toward Washington D.C. on January 20 every fourth year.  Trivia moment:  Presidential inaugurals used to happen on March 4.  Then I was born on that date and since the country could not have two such important events on the same day, the President was moved to January 20.  Well, that’s the way my mother told the story.

Oh, sure, it is a good idea to read some history, and maybe the biography of Thomas Jefferson (for whom the main building of the Library of Congress is named) or Abigail Adams (First First Lady in the White House).

But to truly feel like an insider when you travel today’s Washington, add to your travel library the David Baldacci’s series about a group of misfits in D. C. who outsmart all those guys with big shoulders and blackberries who belong to alphabet agencies. The books are guaranteed to have you looking behind trees and wondering about the guy lurking on the marble steps.

• Camel Club, first in the series.
• The Collectors , my personal favorite, perhaps because it involves books and the Library of Congress will be next if you are reading them in order.
• Stone Cold , next up, is named for the leader of the gang, Oliver Stone.
• Divine Justice , the latest in the series, is also the last, according to the author.  I heard Baldacci speak at a conference in November 2007, and he said that Divine Justice is the last of the Camel Club series.

Once you have read yourself into a totally paranoid state bred by all those thrillers you have read, visit the Spy Museum.  It will convince you that you really are being followed.

With so many books set in D.C.,  from history to mystery, we just may have to revisit this city in a later post. Your suggestions?

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