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Summary
Summary
A mystery in the long-running series featuring the well-known antiques "divvy" and general bad boy, Lovejoy.
Author Notes
Jonathan Gash, best known as the creator of the character Lovejoy, is the pseudonym of John Grant. Grant was born on September 30, 1933 in Bolton, Lancashire, England. He was educated at the University of London and the Royal College of Surgeons and Physics.
In the mid-1970s, Gash began writing to relieve some of the stress of his career as a physician. The first Lovejoy novel, The Judas Pair, won the Creasey Award for the Crime Writer's Association of Great Britain for best first crime novel. A number of other novels, Lovejoy's and otherwise, have followed.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
Lovejoy's back! Lock up your daughters and wives and mistresses and mothers! Two things turn Lovejoy giddy: Women of any age and physical conformation and genuine, authentic, bona fide, true antiques, which he as a "divvy" can unerringly distinguish from fakes, imitations, and dross. Naturally, his affection for both gets him into hot water again, this time landing him aboard the Melissa, a Russia-bound cruise ship peopled with antique lovers and experts and a sizeable contingent determined to harness the divvy's talent to relieve Leningrad's Hermitage Museum of scads of Old Masters. Before they arrive, one body drops, then another, and Lovejoy's sole ally, Margaret Dainty, jumps ship, leaving him vulnerable to the wiles of many in between discourses on antique chocolate pots, imari porcelains, Edwardian amethysts, amber flummery, and Russian ikons. Amsterdam sails by, then Oslo, before finally it's time to tour Leningrad's Winter Palace, discover the real target of the ship's scammers, and head home to wallow in his customary complicated love life. As in many of the raffish hero's romps (A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair, 2000, etc.), the plot is goofy from the get-go, but the talk and erudition are first-rate, and most women would stand in line for the chance to chat up Lovejoy. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Mystery writing doesn't get any better than Gash's Lovejoy series, in which a clever rogue, whose morals and antics are straight out of Restoration comedy, makes his way as an expert and sometime forger in the British antiques world. As Lovejoy explains in numerous asides to the reader, this world is crawling with crooks who prey upon the gullible public. This makes a perfect setup for a series (this is the twenty-second Lovejoy novel) in which the hero repeatedly outcons the cons, relying always on his expertise and rare gift of divvying, i.e., experiencing the physical sensation of dizziness or queasiness (or both) in the presence of genuine antiques. The title here refers to Gash's mental habit of trying to reduce complex situations to a precis of 10 words. The situation he finds himself in this time, however, defies any sense-making formula (also making it a fantastic, nonformulaic read). Lovejoy is on the lam (for stealing his own Rembrandt forgery from a stately home) when he is lured aboard a cruise ship. Lovejoy's kidnappers want him, as the only surviving divvy, to sniff out and steal priceless treasures from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. Lovejoy, lover of art and antiques and hater of art thieves (forgery is tolerable), has his hands full trying to escape and outwit his captors. As always in this series, readers will learn much about art and antiques along the way. A beautifully written, riveting mystery romp. --Connie Fletcher Copyright 2003 Booklist