Fri 3 Sep 2010
A Review by George Kelley: JONATHAN GASH – Firefly Gadroon.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[5] Comments
JONATHAN GASH – Firefly Gadroon. St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1984. Paperback reprint: Penguin, 1985. UK editions include: Collins, hardcover, 1982; Arrow, paperback, 1986. Reprinted many times.
Jonathan Gash is back with another Lovejoy adventure. Lovejoy is a rogue who would rob his blind grandmother in order to get an antique he wanted. Lovejoy puts antiques above everything else in life.
This obsession is both Lovejoy’s most endearing quality and his greatest flaw. All of Lovejoy’s adventures revolve around antiques the way all Dick Francis books revolve around horse racing.
In Firefly Gadroon Lovejoy gets involved in a case involving international smugglers of antiques and a mystery of where a fortune in antiques is hidden with the only clue being an antique firefly box.
Along with the usual action in a Lovejoy thriller, Gash manages to add interesting aspects of antiques to the convoluted plot. This is one of the better books in the Lovejoy series and has just been released in paperback by Penguin. Recommended.
NOTE: For George’s current reviews (mysteries, SF, music, movies and more) visit his own blog at http://georgekelley.org/. It’s worth the trip.
September 4th, 2010 at 2:42 am
I ran across my Lovejoy books the other day, and realised just how much I missed him. Clever, funny, cynical, romantic, and smart wre the words tha came to mind thinking of him.
I’m no sure there is anything today to equal them, or has been for a long time.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:50 am
I totally agree, David. I enjoyed the Lovejoy series. The mix of antiques and crime solving is still unique.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
You might want to check out Annie Kincaid in the Art Lovers series by Hailey Lind (sisters Julie Goodson-Lawes and Carolyn J. Lawes). The first book in the series was “Feint of Art”. This month book four was released, “Arsenic & Old Paint”. The books are far more chick lit mystery than Lovejoy. But the crimes and Annie and her art forgery family has hints of Lovejoy.
September 4th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Thanks for the reminder about the Hailey Lind books, Michael. Walter Albert reviewed BRUSH WITH DEATH, the third in the series, just over two years ago:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=723
A reply from Julie Goodson-Lawes at the time was pessimistic about there being a fourth, but it’s good to know that there really is one, and if anyone’s interested, they can buy it now: Perseverance Press, September 2010.
Most of the recent antiques-oriented mysteries fall in the “cozy” category, but I think you’re right about this series, Michael. It seems to have more of an edge to it than any of the others.
— Steve
September 4th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Anyone who likes the Lovejoy books should check out Gavin Lyall’s VENUS WITH PISTOL, a tongue-in-cheek thriller about a less than honest antique gun collector and dealer, and while not dealing with collecting, Frank Parrish’s series about poacher detective Dan Mallet and his mother is close in spirit to the Lovejoy books (as Ivor Drummond Parrish also wrote the Sandro, Colly, and Lady Jenny books — more serious but also fun).
And of course the Ian McShane LOVEJOY series was a delight perfectly capturing Gash’s less than perfect hero.
There is also Roland Pertwee’s THE TRANSACTIONS OF LORD LOUIS LEWIS, a series of connected short stories featuring as sleuth collector Lord Louis Lewis, a somewhat fatuous seeming Englishman who invaribly gulls the gulls who are trying to con him regarding antiques.