Lovejoy Mystery Series

Book 1

Connoisseur of antiques, rhapsodizer of women, and all-around scamp, Lovejoy is hired by a millionaire collector to "rescue" every art treasure in Venice before the fabled city sinks into the sea. His winning ways, flexible ethics, and resourceful chicanery are put to a vigorous test by the murderous men and dangerous women who cross his gondola's path.

Book 22

The Ten Word Game

by Jonathan Gash

Published 10 January 2003

The latest novel featuring the loveable rogue Lovejoy. After stealing one of his own forgeries from the Marquis of Gotham Lovejoy is on the run. With the bounty hunter David Buddy hot on his trail, Lovejoy makes his way to Southampton in the hope of fleeing the country. He soon finds himself sailing away from the port in the Melissa one of the worlds most luxurious cruise ships - not as a stowaway but as a legitimate passenger. But his cruise turns out to be nothing like a holiday when Lovejoy discovers that his escape from the mainland has been organised by a group of criminals. And now they've got him on board they're intent on using Lovejoy's knowledge of fine art and antiques for their own gain. But exactly what they want him to do remains a mystery...A gripping and unusual tale; Ten Word Game shows Jonathan Grant and his creation Lovejoy at their finest.

Book 24

Faces in the Pool

by Jonathan Gash

Published 23 October 2008

When Lovejoy is wrongfully imprisoned--again--he's offered a way out with a catch. In exchange for his freedom, he agrees to a marriage of convenience to divorced millionairess, Laura Moon, as a way to help her hunt down her former husband. Sensing murderous vengeance in the air, Lovejoy intends to abscond when he can, but instead goes along with it at the insistence of his apprentice, Lydia and his teenage son, Mortimer. Lovejoy is evasive, but the deaths of his old forger friend, Smethie, and transvestite Paltry compel him to concede.

The Sin Within Her Smile

by Jonathan Gash

Published 4 November 1993

A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair

by Jonathan Gash

Published 30 March 2000

"After almost twenty years of doing business on the dodgy side of the trade. Lovejoy is still a love and the joy he brings to his work is undiminished", said a recent review in The New York Times. In his twenty-first caper, mystery fans' favorites antiques dealer faces his biggest challenge ever: not just solving a murder, but also deciphering the knotty mysteries of fatherhood.In order to find our who's been passing off phony gemstones, Lovejoy needs to trawl the London markets. In between Camden Passage and Portobello, he pays a visit to his old friend Colette and Arthur Goldhorn, but he is in for a dreadful surprise -- the Goldhorn's King's Road shop has been taken over by one Dieter Gluck, a handsome and elegant thug with bad breath. Thanks to him, Colette is on the street, her husband mysteriously dead and her fifteen-year-old son Mortimer's life at risk.... He's a handsome lad, too, with a familiar face and a genius for sensing genuine articles from fake.Lovejoy sets out to save the day, but getting on the wrong side of Herr Gluck turns out to be a very dangerous game indeed. Chock full of irresistible antiques lore and deliciously tricky tactics, A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair brings a lively new dimension to a tried-and-true series.

Paid and Loving Eyes

by Jonathan Gash

Published 21 January 1993

When times are slow in the antiques trade, divvies have to make ends meet in unusual ways. Such is Lovejoy's fate driving for Gazza Gaunt's disreputable assignation service. But when one of his customers, the beautiful Fiona, discovers his eye for the genuine article, he finds himself the toast of a rich set whose vices and interest in danger extend way beyond a casual tryst in the back of Lovejoy's van.

Advising the rich on valuables is never easy, but when he discovers that this set's previous advisors have ended up in a hospital, or worse, Lovejoy decides to flee with horse-mad Almira to France. Little does he realise that Almira is part of the plot, and that France is the centre of the biggest antiques scam in history.

Praise for Jonathan Gash:

'Irrepressible... bounteous entertainment' Sunday Times

'Lovejoy is up to his old tricks again... compelling stuff' Today

'Unabashedly amoral, witty and crammed with treasures of every sort... Pure, unadulterated Lovejoy' Publishers Weekly

The Grace in Older Women

by Jonathan Gash

Published 19 January 1995

Firefly Gadroon

by Jonathan Gash

Published 22 March 1982

I don't like to pack too much into an ordinary day and this one had already been pretty eventful - two arguments with women, a fight in a pub, a warning from the Old Bill and a fiasco at auction that lost me an exquisite antique Japanese firefly cage. The trouble was, somebody wanted that little gem even more than I did. It was the key that would unlock a secret they'd to anything to keep under wraps, even murder. If only they could only have gone about their dirty deeds without involving me or my friends, they might have got away with it all, but when the master craftsman bravely trying to teach me the art of gadrooning fell foul of them and paid for it with his life, they had me to deal with ...

The Rich and Profane

by Jonathan Gash

Published 30 March 2000

Lovejoy's search for a missing painting and a missing friend -- Gesso the cat burglar -- takes him on a wild adventure to the Channel Islands. He hopes to keep a low profile by masquerading as Jonno Rant, an island local, but that plan backfires when the local police start to keep tabs on him and the real Jonno Rant shows up. Can Lovejoy stay one step ahead of Rant and the police? Soon, just staying alive becomes a juggling act for the irrepressible Lovejoy.