Review by Booklist Review
Lovable rogue Lovejoy has found a permanent home on the shady side of the antiques trade, where old masters prompt new murders. This twenty-first trip on Gash's antiques road show takes Lovejoy and his lowlife entourage to the fabled London antique markets--Camden Passage, Portobello Road, among others--first to determine who's dealing in bogus gemstones and then to settle scores with one Dieter Gluck, who may have killed Lovejoy's old pal Arthur Goldhorn. Longtime fans of the series will have a ball this time; the frenetic atmosphere of the London antique markets, with their special mix of seedy and snobby, is perfect for Lovejoy, much of whose appeal comes from putting a Cockney spin on such highbrow matters as how to appraise Georgian porcelain. The always entertaining sidebars on antique lore aren't particularly well integrated into the action, but, for most fans, determining whodunit is far less important than hearing from Lovejoy's lips that now would be an excellent time to start buying old hatpins. --Bill Ott
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
That likable rogue, Lovejoy, puts his expert's knowledge of antiques to the supreme test in this 21st installment of his raffish adventures. Shady operator Dosh Callaghan hires Lovejoy to figure out who tricked him in the matter of some unusual green gemstones. Under his loupe, the antiques dealer sees that the stones are merely tsavorite, not valuable "padpas." While reluctantly playing sleuth in London's street markets, Lovejoy happens across another mystery, which could be connected to his current investigation. His old friends the Goldhorns have fallen on bad times. Arthur is dead, perhaps murdered, while Colette is out on the streets, a "bag lady." The agent of their misfortunes is one Dieter Gluck, a nasty piece of work, who wastes little time in intimidating Lovejoy. Determined to aid the widowed Colette, one of his many former paramours, and Colette's endangered teenage son, Mortimer, Lovejoy works to revive a scam that will put Gluck back in the gutter where he belongs. The pace is more than leisurely, with many a detour to natter about antiques, but in the end Lovejoy stumbles toward a sort of justice. Fans will chuckle all the way. Agent, Desmond Elliott. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
If your patrons are into antiques, Gash's (a.k.a. John Grant and Graham Gaunt) Lovejoy series might fill their cup of tea. Between lengthy asides detailing all sorts of antiques trivia, including how to recognize counterfeits, the author relates two mysteries: a shady dealer, Dosh Callaghan, hires Lovejoy to find out who duped him in his purchase of fake padpas (precious gems), and Colette and Arthur Goldhorn, old friends in the business, have gone missing. Occasionally Christopher Kay's voice drops into a lower register, rendering some words barely decipherable; still, avid Anglophiles will want this. Sandy Glover, West Linn P.L., OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
