What do you think?
Rate this book
Lovejoy #4
Spend Game
'The antiques game is nothing but trouble = beautiful, lovely, trouble...' And in his latest escapade, Lovejoy is in trouble up to his ears.
It begins when, in a compromising position, he witnesses the murder of a fellow dealer he knew in the army years before. The dead man had recently purchased some unimportant items belonging to a local doctor recently deceased. But why were the big boys so keen to acquire these that they were prepared to kill him - and then send thugs to dispose of Lovejoy as well?
The clue is a ticket for the first trip on a local railway in 1847. But the railway was never opened - and, except as a curiosity, the ticket is valueless.
In between girls and spotting antiques and imparting his unrivalled knowledge of both, Lovejoy uncovers a story of villainy past and present, which climaxes in a long-forgotten tunnel.
It begins when, in a compromising position, he witnesses the murder of a fellow dealer he knew in the army years before. The dead man had recently purchased some unimportant items belonging to a local doctor recently deceased. But why were the big boys so keen to acquire these that they were prepared to kill him - and then send thugs to dispose of Lovejoy as well?
The clue is a ticket for the first trip on a local railway in 1847. But the railway was never opened - and, except as a curiosity, the ticket is valueless.
In between girls and spotting antiques and imparting his unrivalled knowledge of both, Lovejoy uncovers a story of villainy past and present, which climaxes in a long-forgotten tunnel.
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 1980
141 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Gash
91 books73 followersJohn Grant is an English crime writer, who writes under the pen name Jonathan Gash. He is the author of the Lovejoy series of novels. He wrote the novel The Incomer under the pen name Graham Gaunt.
Grant is a doctor by training and worked as a general practitioner and pathologist. He served in the British Army and attained the rank of Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was head of bacteriology at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for the University of London between 1971 and 1988.
Grant won the John Creasey Award in 1977 for his first Lovejoy novel, The Judas Pair. He is also the author of a series of medical thrillers featuring the character Dr. Clare Burtonall.
Grant lives outside Colchester in Essex, the setting for many of his novels. He has also been published in Postscripts.
Grant is a doctor by training and worked as a general practitioner and pathologist. He served in the British Army and attained the rank of Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was head of bacteriology at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for the University of London between 1971 and 1988.
Grant won the John Creasey Award in 1977 for his first Lovejoy novel, The Judas Pair. He is also the author of a series of medical thrillers featuring the character Dr. Clare Burtonall.
Grant lives outside Colchester in Essex, the setting for many of his novels. He has also been published in Postscripts.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 11, 2014
I sometimes think of Lovejoy, Gash's antiques-cum-detective, as the larcenous equivalent of Angela Lansbury's Murder She Wrote character. Which is to say that were either of them real, I wouldn't want to be a friend or relative for fear of being murdered or suspected of being a murderer. The problem is symptomatic of any mystery series in which the detective is anything but that by trade, as the writer tries to consistently involve the character in skullduggery.
In this episode, an old war-buddy fellow dealer is bumped off only slightly before the book opens, and while Lovejoy witnesses the act, his tendency for self-preservation and the fact that he was currently involved in an adulterous tryst, prevents him from coming forward with what little information he could glean to the police. Of course, Lovejoy wouldn't trust the local constable to sneeze without some peppery remarks from his corner, and the rest of the book goes on like the usual, with Lovejoy achieving vengeance and satisfying his greed in roughly the same equal mixture.
It's not so much Gash's plots that keep me reading these, but the pleasure of reading his undeniable joy in describing antiques and their history. I like to think of these books as much of an education in a subject that I know nothing about as much as pure entertainment.
In this episode, an old war-buddy fellow dealer is bumped off only slightly before the book opens, and while Lovejoy witnesses the act, his tendency for self-preservation and the fact that he was currently involved in an adulterous tryst, prevents him from coming forward with what little information he could glean to the police. Of course, Lovejoy wouldn't trust the local constable to sneeze without some peppery remarks from his corner, and the rest of the book goes on like the usual, with Lovejoy achieving vengeance and satisfying his greed in roughly the same equal mixture.
It's not so much Gash's plots that keep me reading these, but the pleasure of reading his undeniable joy in describing antiques and their history. I like to think of these books as much of an education in a subject that I know nothing about as much as pure entertainment.
July 27, 2013
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2150150.html[return][return]The actual antique mystery bit is particularly well done here: Lovejoy's obsession with relics from the dawn of the railway age turn out to be the basis of a peculiar murder mystery, and there is a thrilling climax as he tries to outwit his enemies trapped at the wrong end of an underground tunnel. But his revolting and sometimes violent misogyny is also on full display too, and it is rather implausible that so many women can simultaneously be pursuing his affections considering how badly he treats them all.
August 25, 2020
Another great entry into the Lovejoy series. A great anti-hero and very unlike the TV version. There's shades of Flashgun for sure. I would have have added another star however but while the misogyny aspect is somewhat expected of the character there is a scene involving violence towards women which is out of place and not acceptable even though its "of its time".
February 28, 2015
I liked it. It flowed well. The new characters (Moll particularly, but also Elspeth to a lesser extent) were well done. The 'big reveal' of where the booty was hidden seemed rather obvious. Even though Lovejoy is such a cad, and a bit of a whiner, he's quite the hard nut. I think his character could go toe-to-toe with Marlow and Hammer and hold his own. I do hope that after all he went through in this book that he gets to keep some profit. This obviously took place not long after The Grail Tree since he still had his little Austin Ruby and spoke about sending Lydia out of town for some education.
The eBook was formatted only so-so with numerous spelling/punctuation errors. I think it was another bad OCR. At times it was quite distracting.
The eBook was formatted only so-so with numerous spelling/punctuation errors. I think it was another bad OCR. At times it was quite distracting.
March 19, 2014
An enjoyable and exciting entry into the Lovejoy series. Much better than the last.
It had a good story, interesting characters, fun facts on antiques and an exciting conclusion to the story. I'm looking forward to reading the next one!
It had a good story, interesting characters, fun facts on antiques and an exciting conclusion to the story. I'm looking forward to reading the next one!
November 21, 2016
Ah, Lovejoy. It's been a couple of books but here you are again - punching a woman and commenting on her black eyes. Good job, my friend. Good job. Literary Lovejoy is very much the Chris Brown of the antiques world.
July 18, 2023
My late mother, who dragged me to numerous antique shops in search of Rustic Americana as a pitiable youth, would probably have loved this mystery series as both a reader of Agatha Christie and a lover of historical objects and furnishings. Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy series is a slightly different kettle of fish, or more accurately Wedgwood dining set, as the womanizing, boozing, scheming, and sometimes even murdering -- mainly in self-defense, or in justifiable pursuit of a rare objet de art -- antiques dealer is a bit more Phillip Marlowe than Hercule Poirot. Here, he's chasing down a silver-cast Victorian train model shored up in a tunnelled hillside by a murdered doctor's Right Honorable ancestor, a decorated nobleman who succeeded in making a financial killing, but not precluding the more literal kind, on a diverted train line. When it comes to greed, rarity, fortune, and historical provenance, Lovejoy amply demonstrates that Antiques Noir is by no means a contradictory term.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2021
"WHAT WAS LECKI'S FATAL FIND?
"On a dark and rainy night amorous antiques dealer Lovejoy and his lady of the moment witness a car being forced off the road and over an embankment; the mortally injured driver turns out to be Leckie, a fellow antiques dealer and old army chum. Lovejoy's search for the villains is spiced with the promise of a valuable cache of antiques hidden somewhere at the end of the line. Spirited, vivid writing and a marvelously varied cast of characters from the shadier side of the antiques world make this Jonathan Gash's best book to date."
~~back cover
I thought the plot was too convoluted: Lovejoy continually followed from one clue to the next, but the path seemed to be more leaps than breadcrumbs.
"On a dark and rainy night amorous antiques dealer Lovejoy and his lady of the moment witness a car being forced off the road and over an embankment; the mortally injured driver turns out to be Leckie, a fellow antiques dealer and old army chum. Lovejoy's search for the villains is spiced with the promise of a valuable cache of antiques hidden somewhere at the end of the line. Spirited, vivid writing and a marvelously varied cast of characters from the shadier side of the antiques world make this Jonathan Gash's best book to date."
~~back cover
I thought the plot was too convoluted: Lovejoy continually followed from one clue to the next, but the path seemed to be more leaps than breadcrumbs.
September 5, 2019
Lovejoy returns for his fourth outting looking to avenge the killing of his friend Leckie, a man with nearly as many girlfriends as the book's hero. Much of the early book is devoted to the many woman in his life as tries figure out the link between Leckie annd a recently deceased doctor. After a slow start Spend Game bursts in to live as Lovejoy and becomes a real page turner as he goes in search of an old Victorian railway and mystery item believed to have buried during a landslide. The only down side is the book seems to have come from a life time a go instead of the 1970s.
May 18, 2019
Lovejoy is never not entertaining, but his misogyny was on full display here. So many disparaging remarks about women, letting his various lovers snipe at each other over him, and giving one woman a black eye when she won't do as he tells her...after which she proceeds to go all gooey over him and they end up in bed together anyway.
I may take a break from Lovejoy for a while, and let my husband read the next one and let me know if the misogyny has dropped to tolerable levels.
I may take a break from Lovejoy for a while, and let my husband read the next one and let me know if the misogyny has dropped to tolerable levels.
June 3, 2018
Good escapist reading for the summer. An adventuring anti-hero whose shenanigans leave him at story's end with his puzzle solved but confusion trailing in his wake.
September 6, 2022
Gash stories are really great, but man the misogyny is hard to take.
March 26, 2025
I'm watching some Lovejoy episodes, and find that they go well with the books, and I really like Ian McShane.
October 28, 2024
A mystery focused on an artifact going back to the building of railroads in England triggers murder and makes Lovejoy relive some wartime memories.
August 11, 2018
Lovejoy is a dodgy antiques dealer who lives in east anglia, and has a gift for knowing if an antique is real or not (this makes him a 'divvy'). this is the third Lovejoy novel i have read, and so far they have all followed much the same pattern. A friend of Lovejoy's is murdered, and it has something to do with some rare and very valuable antique. Lovejoy searches for the rqre antique, and tried to outwit the villains who are after it too. A number of women are usually involved, all crazy about him. Lovejoy nearly gets killed, but ends up killing at least some of the villains, and ends up in possession of the antique.
if you are familiar with the Lovejoy TV series, the books are quite a bit different, darker and more violent. Lovejoy himself is a much harder, more ruthless man than he is in the TV series. he treats the women who surround him casually, sometimes even brutally, but they all come back for more. His obsession with antiques is total, nothing else matters at all by comparison. Mysteriously, even with his remarkable gift, he always seems to be broke, i presume because he can't resist spending anay money he gets on still more antiques. but somehow, there is always a woman around to help him out. if you can suspend disbelief for long enough, the books are good fun.
if you are familiar with the Lovejoy TV series, the books are quite a bit different, darker and more violent. Lovejoy himself is a much harder, more ruthless man than he is in the TV series. he treats the women who surround him casually, sometimes even brutally, but they all come back for more. His obsession with antiques is total, nothing else matters at all by comparison. Mysteriously, even with his remarkable gift, he always seems to be broke, i presume because he can't resist spending anay money he gets on still more antiques. but somehow, there is always a woman around to help him out. if you can suspend disbelief for long enough, the books are good fun.
September 21, 2016
Meh. I got this copy through a Bookcrossing book box and it sat on my TBR shelf for several years. I'm not much of a mystery fan, but the idea of an antiques dealer/amateur gumshoe appealed to me. Unfortunately, the story didn't deliver for me. There's lots of insider antiques info which I found interesting, although I doubt there is quite the thuggishness and mayhem behind the scenes in real life. I found the main character Lovejoy mildly amusing; a throwback to the 20's and 30's noir characters who bend the rules, run circles around the corrupt law men, and always get multiple girls (all females are "girls" no matter how old or accomplished) while coming off as the toughest guys in town. However, I don't find those guys appealing anymore. Give me a sensitive Alan Alda type any day. I'm done with guys punching their girlfriends in the face and having no clue about "what a woman wants"--even in fiction. I'm sure this description is appealing to some out there--no judging--just personal taste.
August 25, 2012
Antique dealer Lovejoy is out with a married woman on a lonely stretch of road (referred to as "Lovejoy's Loop" by his friends) when he sees Leckie, an old army chum and fellow antique dealer, run off the road and killed. Naturally Lovejoy investigates, and learns that Leckie bought quite a few antiques at that day's auction - but didn't leave with them. Hilarity, and several deaths, ensue.
Gash's writing is funny but in a wry, cynical way. Lovejoy is afraid of getting mixed up with crooks but outraged at the death of his friend, and wavers more than once. Not to mention how he wavers in his romantic life - the guy knows everyone, and if they're female, he's either A) slept with them, B) tried to sleep with them, or C) is currently trying to sleep with them.
A pretty good book. I'm not hooked on the series yet, but I'll probably try at least one more Lovejoy book.
Gash's writing is funny but in a wry, cynical way. Lovejoy is afraid of getting mixed up with crooks but outraged at the death of his friend, and wavers more than once. Not to mention how he wavers in his romantic life - the guy knows everyone, and if they're female, he's either A) slept with them, B) tried to sleep with them, or C) is currently trying to sleep with them.
A pretty good book. I'm not hooked on the series yet, but I'll probably try at least one more Lovejoy book.
February 10, 2016
Yes Lovejoy is horrible and beats women and is a fickle love rat, but these books have pulled me in!
The part of this book that really grabbed me was Lovejoy reminiscing about an old comrade and a terrifying mission. It's these moments of vulnerability that draw you in to root for him. Gash is a great writer, at his best when having Lovejoy pontificate on antiques, care of antiques or his quirky philosophies on life.
I am also learning that you can eat fried apple. Did this used to be a thing?
The part of this book that really grabbed me was Lovejoy reminiscing about an old comrade and a terrifying mission. It's these moments of vulnerability that draw you in to root for him. Gash is a great writer, at his best when having Lovejoy pontificate on antiques, care of antiques or his quirky philosophies on life.
I am also learning that you can eat fried apple. Did this used to be a thing?
November 7, 2013
I read this one because the main character and setting are familiar to me. Lovejoy is an antiques dealer in Norfolk, England. I grew up there and it's full of antique dealers. There are more than a dozen in my home town of 3,000.
Not bad but did not live up to my expectations, nor the TV series that was based on it.
Not bad but did not live up to my expectations, nor the TV series that was based on it.
April 13, 2013
Too much language and too much inside antique dealer info. And Lovejoy is not a likeable character at all, just a pompous guy who thinks everyone owes him!!! And he never takes responisiblity for his actions.
November 17, 2016
The book was pleasant to read, but the story was far-fetched and an important aspect of it made no sense to me at all. I won't go into detail so as not to give away what happens later in the book. Worth reading if you want to read all of the Lovejoy books.
July 20, 2014
Lovejoy is once again on the hunt for a very special item' with murder and mayhem along the way - and women of course.
September 3, 2014
Another quick but fun read. The story formula is predictable as compared to other books in this series but the storyline itself is well done and certainly entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews