arndt@smurf.DEC (04/29/84)
Anyone out there a fan of Jonathan Gash? His 'Lovejoy' murder mystery novels are tops: o The Vatican Rip o Spend Game o Gold By Gemini o The Grail Tree o The Judas Pair Lovejoy is an antique dealer with a personality like Miss Piggy and Louie Deplama rolled into one. Throughly egocentric! And a delightful English wit. Regards, Ken Arndt
dep@allegra.UUCP (Dewayne E. Perry) (05/01/84)
The Gash books are fun, even if Lovejoy is not a very believable character in the context of antique dealers: my experience has not included any dealer who suffers from the traffic problem (of women) that Lovejoy has, nor has it included anyone who has the James Bond type of violence (which I find to be gratuitous at best) associated with him. However, except for a few mistakes about 18th century porcelain, the info about art and antiques is pretty good, though the dealers may not be quite as barmy as Lovejoy makes out. Interesting sidebits: Gash is the pseudonym of specialist in tropical deseases at London University; his first few books were banned in UK because some of the references were a bit too close to real people in the trade. Read them and enjoy - the earlier ones are better than the later ones. --------- For Art and Antiques mysteries, better yet is the series of books on the Baron by John Creasy. The Baron is a former Jewel thief turned owner of Quinns, a high quality art and antiques shop of Bond street in London. They are good reading and the Baron is much more believable. For etruscan antiquities and Florence, Michael Gilbert's The Family Tomb looks pretty good - I'm half way through, so far so good. Happy reading!