Product Description

Lovejoy is not a fan of London, but a scheme involving fake gemstones sends him to the markets of Camden and Portobello to investigate. While there, he visits old friends Colette and Arthur Goldhorn and is horrified to discover that the Goldhorn's highly respected antiques shop has been taken over by a wealthy German businessman, Dieter Gluck. What's more, Arthur has died and Colette-who also happens to be an old flame of Lovejoy's-is living on the streets with her fifteen-year-old son. Lovejoy vows to avenge Arthur's death and restore Colette's business, but crossing Herr Gluck turns out to be a dangerous game.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #973174 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Released on: 2001-01-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
What bliss! Lovejoy is back, in his 21st adventure--and while Jonathan Gash (The Possessions of a Lady, The Rich and the Profane, etc.) might be forgiven if things were getting a bit stale by this point, happily, A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair is anything but dull. This latest adventure sends Lovejoy, an antiques dealer and sometime forger with a gift for sensing genuine articles from fake, trawling the London markets from Camden Passage to Portobello, in order to find out who's passed dud gemstones to Dosh Callaghan. But after stopping to say hello to his old friends Arthur and Colette Goldhorn, he finds that their antiques shop has been commandeered by the unspeakable Dieter Gluck, a suave thug with muscular friends. Arthur is dead, Colette is on the street, and their son Mortimer has mysteriously disappeared. When Lovejoy sets out to save the day, he finds out that conning a con can be a dangerous proposition, and he'll need every ounce of trickiness to keep more corpses from appearing: "These markets look the soul of innocence, street barrows lined up under merry bunting. In fact they can be scary, while seeming the friendliest places on earth. You've been warned. Much good warnings ever do, though. When greed and antiques meet everybody ignores warnings."

As usual, Gash peppers his pages with a glorious assortment of supporting characters (i.e., accomplices): meet Lydia, Lovejoy's prim and proper apprentice; Tinker, a phlegmatic burglar with a powerful thirst; and Trout, a midget who specializes in Tarzan sing-o-grams. But Lovejoy's voice is the real delight; he is anxious to educate his readers in all manner of antiques arcana--the importance of using real vellum in faking Renaissance miniatures; the history of the great Dogon mask fraud; how to forge scholarly impressions of Roman coins with a bit of isinglass and ochre. His lectures and wry meditations on the foibles of humanity are delivered with the mix of wide-eyed amazement and effortless humor that Gash's readers have come to appreciate and expect. A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair will have Lovejoy fans new and old crying, "Bring on number 22, and hurry, please!" --Kelly Flynn

From Publishers Weekly
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.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Who's wrecking the London market by flooding it with fake gemstones? That's what Lovejoy sets out to discover. In the process, he finds that a nasty thug named Dieter has dispossessed his good friend Colette, and he takes responsibility for Colette's teenaged son, whose talents (and face) match his own.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

An interesting mystery
If Lovejoy had to choose between an antique and a beautiful caring woman, he would choose the former, as he loves to collect old-fashion items. Legalities or a cash shortfall fail to stop Lovejoy from the pleasure of obtaining an antique.

Dosh Callaghan hires Lovejoy to find out who substituted a shipment of padpas (precious gems) for tsavorite (a semi-precious but worthless stone). Lovejoy travels to London where he goes to visit his cronies Colette and Arthur Goldhorn, owners of a King's Road antique store. However, he learns that Arthur died and Dieter Gluck owns the store and the Goldhorn ancestral home.

Colette lives on the streets as a bag lady working for her former lover Gluck. Lovejoy decides to right the wrong perpetrated by Gluck. He assembles a squad of eccentric charcaters to help him with his crazy scheme to sting a con artist. However, a joker appears when Lovejoy meets Colette's son Mortimer who bears a resemblance to Lovejoy and has the same gift of knowing a fake from a genuine article.

The twenty-first Lovejoy mystery remains as droll, witty, and entertaining as the previous score of novels. Although the street slang spoken by some of the charcaters initially distracts from the story line, the audience quickly adjusts and feels they are wandering along the back streets of London. The hero knows his antiques and educates the reader even if it is from the wrong side of the law. Lovejoy remains a likable chap who still schemes and plots in a Sergeant Bilko (TV show not the movie) sort of amiable way.

Harriet Klausner

Lovejoy (and Gash) Improve with Age
I hope Jonathan Gash is not peaking, because this is certainly his best Lovejoy novel. As a fan, I have read all of them and although the progression has been doubtful at times, I believe this auther has indeed come into his own with this effort. Lovejoy remains the loveable scallywag antiques divy. The combination of love of antiques, women, scams, money and nosh present this wonderful character at his best. Yes, most of the time, Lovejoy is on the wrong side of the law and may be scamming his friends; however, this story reaffirms the "heart of gold" we know is lurking within. He sets out to save a woman (with whom he made "smiles") and her son, taken to the cleaners by an antiques dealer even more unscrupulous than Lovejoy. He accomplishes his goals with usual bungling and remains somewhat confused to the end, but the reader is on Lovejoy's side the whole time. And, of course, there is the question, "Is Mortimer Lovejoy's love child?" You decide. Gash presents a unique view of England, the antiques trade and a delightful read from every angle.

More joy with Lovejoy
Lovejoy is hired to find out who has stolen the gems of an old friend and replaced them with duds. The padpas, a type of yellow-pinkish coloured sapphires, have been replaced by tsavourites, a similar semi precious stone but without the monetary value. Lured back to London by this story, Loveday is horrified to discover that his old friend, Arthur Goldhorn is dead under suspicious circumstances with his son and heir, Mortimer swindled out of his home and inheritance and Arthur's wife (and Lovejoy's former mistress), without her antiques business and turned into a bag lady, on the streets. A handsome, ruthless crook named Dieter Gluck is the perpetrator of all of these misfortunes as he has the looks and charm to fool any female who comes within his reach. The whole book revolves around Lovejoy trying to do the right thing by all of his friends and regaining Mortimer's property and land rights for him. It's full of the usual Lovejoy quirkiness and charm and chock full of unusual characters and snippets of information about antiques and England throughout the centuries. Lovejoy books never fail to amuse me and I can barely wait to get the next one.