Product Description

Persona non grata in England and Hong Kong, antiques expert Lovejoy escapes to America, where he must rely on the help of a destitute hooker and a streetwise eight year old to stay one step ahead of the law. Reprint.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1374431 in Books
• Published on: 1992-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Gash's 14th Lovejoy mystery finds the hero, still on the run from British authorities, in New York as an illegal immigrant, his penchant for antiques once again involving him with mysterious doings.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The irrepressible Lovejoy takes America by storm in this sequel to The Jade Woman ( LJ 2/1/89).
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Still struggling to reclaim the magnificent form of Jade Woman (1989), in which incorrigibly corrupt antiques-dealer Lovejoy nosed about Hong Kong, Gash now turns to America for inspiration--with only so-so results. Eking out a livelihood in a Manhattan bar, Lovejoy is pressed into waiter service at the wealthy, more-than- slightly-crooked Aquilinas digs, where his ``divvy'' (i.e., divining) talents gain him entry into The Great California Game--an invitation-only, giant hustle that's guaranteed to make the winners multimillionaires. Quicker than he can tell paste from diamond, Lovejoy and his two new street-savvy chums--Magda the doorway whore and Zole the hot-goods kid--are on a cross-country romp (Chicago, New Orleans, L.A.) to set up the sting, while all around them love stories swirl and evolve (the maid/the bodyguard/etc.), two sisters crop up, and, naturally, the big score just seems to elude Lovejoy. A skimpy plot undercuts a wry love-letter to the States. As witty and knowledgeable as Gash can be, he hasn't much of a story to tell here. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

These could become addictive
David Dandy and Sonia Kreidenweis, my landlords from my last semester, turned me onto the Lovejoy series on A&E. Lovejoy, a rogue antiques dealer with a circle of friends who combine to help and hinder, is the type of character I'd like to create--witty and crass, full of interesting quirks, yet also a sense of morality. Now that I'm once again sans A&E, I turned to the novels of Jonathan Gash that provided the basis for the TV show.

While the dichotomy between TV and book isn't quite as drastic as one like Spenser: For Hire, there is a marked difference. For one, the book Lovejoy is much more a loner than his television counterpart. He's also much more chauvinistic, smart-alecky, and incredibly stupid, at least in things other than antiques. And, although the TV Lovejoy tries to match the first-person narrative of the books with his humorous asides to the camera, it just doesn't come close to the endless personal nature of the onrunning dialogue between character and reader in the book. Which is to say that both media have their pros and cons.

In this novel, Lovejoy finally visits America, and quickly gets involved in a very large scam--one that decides the crime takings for the whole country. I like to think of it as if Damon Runyon had been born British, with the first-person narrative flowing serenely over the dangerous mob happenings below.

Oh, I almost forgot my favorite line in the book. Lovejoy, trying to extradite himself from one of the situations is telling the reader his plan, with the ending, "Then exit, pursued by bear." Funny? Not alone, perhaps, but in context, this stage description from Shakespeare, incongruously applied, tickled me in the right places. I liked this book enough to pick up another, and I suspect that I'll probably end up reading them all if they can match the fun of this one.

Lovejoy discovers New York
Although the title sets the buyer's attention on California, the book largely takes place in New York where Lovejoy is stuck trying to earn money to get home. As with many of Gash's later Lovejoy books, the pace is often frantic, but he does not sacrifice character--both of Lovejoy and the folks he meets. Lovejoy's irreverence finds a home among Americans, but there's a lighter touch than usual--Gash is often more merciful towards Americans than to any other group. I've read all of the Lovejoys and found this one of the more memorable ones, though not necesarily one of the best for plot or for development of Lovejoy's philosophy of life. But it is a bit more surreal than usual in presenting Lovejoy's circumstances, and rather sentimental, while also introducing us to the usual wide array of shady characters.

Do yourself a favor and skip California Game Entirely
This book stopped my love of the Lovejoy series in its tracks. There is little of the Lovejoy we know and love in this awful novel. There are no interesting characters that we can get into at all.

This novel should have followed Jade Woman (been the next published after Jade Woman). For whatever reason, The Last Gambado followed it, which chronologically takes place after this atrocity.

The last Gambado is a good book. This will spoil Lovejoy for you. It seems to me Gash wrote a dull book about a different character with this one.