VERY LAST GAMBADO

Lovejoy #13

by Jonathan Gash

In the world of antiques there is one great remaining scam - to rob the British Museum. When Lovejoy is employed as an antiques advisor on a film set, the murder, mayhem and double-crossing are not confined to the film. This is the 13th book in the Lovejoy series.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, British Literature

298 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Robert Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would not recommend for fans of the Lovejoy TV series.

The literary Lovejoy is a rogue, a scoundrel, and at times a right bastard. His attitudes towards women leaves much to be desired.

What brings me back and delights me about these books is the sheer joy of the caper. And, warts and all, Lovejoy is still a fun scoundrel to read about. He might not have the same soft, friendly edges of Ian McShane's inimitable TV version, but he has a determined sense of justice, if not entirely a fondness for strictly adhering to "the law."

A thoroughly enjoyable romp.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

An antiques dealer agrees to work on a film and gets involved in a murder.

I found the central character sexiest and annoying - the story when it got started was reasonable, but the narrative was a bit of a mess.

Overall rating 2.5

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1991779.html[return][return][return]The Very Last Gambado is about a criminal raid on the British Museum, disguised as a movie about a raid on the British Museum (which is this book's lovingly described exotic venue). It was written some way into Lovejoy's TV appearances, and one wonders if the dissolute and past-it male lead was - no, never mind, that's unfair. But there are a lot of interesting observations about the madness of a film set, particularly involving stunt men, and the thought experiment of trying to raid the British Museum is an intriguing one; anyone who knows that corner of London at all well will end up scratching their heads at the complexity of the problem. [return][return]Meanwhile we do also get a fair bit of Lovejoy on his home ground in East Anglia, fighting off amorous women with varying degrees of failure, and encountering a forger's workshop located on a second-hand bus, which is an arresting image. And I'm glad to report that our hero has acquired two new budgies after the awful fate of the ones in Gold from Gemini.[return][return]This book also has a moment which makes the classification of the series as non-genre rather than fantasy very difficult. Lovejoy is a "divvy"; he has an astonishing ability to tell real antiques from fakes. One can usually handwave this away as well-honed observational skills and intuition - I can look at a tray of objects and guess how many there are to within 15-20%; I used to be able to date a medieval manuscript to the correct half-century at a glance; Lovejoy's skill as an extension of that sort of thing seems OK. But here, Lovejoy actually detects a genuine antique within a sealed container, unable to see it, but it makes his heart beat faster just to be near it. It's not all that important to the plot (well, it might be, but I had some difficulty following) so I will still classify The Very Last Gambado as non-genre in my end-of-month and end-of-year tallies. But I have a lingering doubt.

[Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

In every Lovejoy book there is a plot, but that hardly seems to matter as the real reason for reading any Lovejoy book is Lovejoy himself, listening to him go on in his broad Anglican accent (if you're a fan of the one-time show, you might hear Ian McShane's voice) about birds (who can really figure them out?) and antiques (he has a metaphysical connection) and money (lack of it)and rozzers (always out to nick him for nothing) and other dealers (they're not nearly as smart as they think they are). Along the way, you'll get quite an education about what's valuable or not, how to forge antiques, the best defense when hauled into court for giving a knight on display in a museum a decent burial, the way to burgle a house, the best scams to make an auction room do what you want it to, and how bloody unfair life is to Lovejoy. In amongst all that is the thread of a plot, travelling from beginning to end, even when you don't see it (especially when you don't see it). In this book, the plot is about some scoundrels (even bigger ones than Lovejoy) using the making of a film to cover the theft of the Magna Carta ffrom the B.M. (that means "British Museum," so don't snigger so much, you American types) with the unwitting assistance of Lovejoy. The book is broadly humorous because that's the way Lovejoy is himself, and since he's the narrator everything and everyone is seen through his extremely skewed perspective. As an interpreter of events and motivations, Lovejoy is as adept at cutting through the crap as he is at being baffled by it. It's classed as a mystery or suspense novel only because publishers have to call it something, but it's really a Lovejoy novel, as unclassifiable as Lovejoy himself. If you like eccentric mysteries with broad helpings of humor, crime, history and pithy observations about the human condition, you might want to give this book a try. A word of warning: Lovejoy is addictive...bet you can't read just one.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The caper to end all capers. This is a big, brash Lovejoy caper, and as wonderful as it is, I wouldn't recommend this to be read before any other books in this wonderful series. This book's plot and the huge caper are very complex, and Lovejoy has really bitten off more than he can chew in this one. Lovejoy is recruited to act as a consultant for a film about a robbery from the British Museum. Lovejoy knows all along that he's a pawn in some crook's game, but he can't figure out why they need him. Lovejoy, you're too modest - not only are you a divy, but your reputation preceeds you! Anyway, Lovejoy ends up mixing up with some very bad people, and he even finds himself in between two mob bosses that are after each other's blood. I love all the books in this series, but I would have to say that this particular book is my favourite so far. It is the "very last gambado" (the big score), just as the title states.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great title leads into a typical Lovejoy book, which means it has almost none of the fun and charm of the TV show.
Don't know why I keep reading these things, in the hope that the next one will be better.
I'll just settle for renting the DVDs of the show.

[Susan Ravizza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a really hard time understanding this book. Lots of British terms that I didn't know but, also, I had trouble understanding what the author was implying. I don't think the author and I had enough in common where I would understand what he was thinking from his indirect sentences. The book was also very sexist and murder was treated nonchalantly. Didn't like this book. I never watched the Lovejoy shows so I don't know how it compares.

I gave it an extra star because this was a mother's day present from my son. He put effort into buying it; he went to a used book store and asked the shopkeeper to recommend something that I would like (British mysteries). So I feel fondness for the book because of that.

[WhatShouldIRead]

I tried, I really did. Read a good chunk of the book but aside from the turn of phrase throughout and my difficulty understanding what he meant (I got the general gist) and the filming studio scene, which I found really slow, I decided not to continue on.

I've had problems with this author's books in the past but since it was awhile since I read the last one I decided to continue on with reading those I hadn't gotten to. Now I'm not so sure that this author is completely for me. While I enjoy the character of Lovejoy (aside from the way he treats women) and his enthusiasm for antiques and their history, I may just stick to watching the series for my fix.

[Jeff Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovejoy is once again on his uppers and finds himself working has an adviser of a film about a heist at the British Museum. When forger Sam Shrouder is found murdered after working on a copy of the Magna Carta, Lovejoy smells a rat. "The Very Last Gambado is a slight change of gear for Lovejoy with the book in thriller mode rather than his usual shady fakes. All the other elements of the lovable rogue are in place to make this a fast paced crime buster.

[Mira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our favorite woman hitting, philandering, misogynist Lovejoy goes Hollywood and as usual is beaten up, skint and divvying his beloved antiques.

The final act was slightly ridiculous. If he knew what they were planning why not just not go?!

[Larry Hostetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

First one of this series I've read. I remember enjoying the television show, but had forgotten much of it.

But the book's Lovejoy I find more enjoyable than the television series, because there is more knowledge, confidence-man, and humor than I remember in the show. There is still the randy (to use the British slang) nature to his character, but there is much information on antiques (I assume it's correct) than I remember from the show.

The one deficiency and the reason for not giving it five stars was the combination of complex climax (which I didn't quite keep up with) and the British slang (not sure if it's cockney or if East Anglian).

But once I got used to it and looked a few words and expressions up on the internet it became more understandable.

I can see myself reading other books from the Lovejoy series in the future. A good and quick read.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audio abridged (fortunately)

I didn't have a clue what was going on for most of the time!

The narrator wasn't to enuthusiastic either!!!
Don't think I could have ever read as the printed page...

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long time since I have read a Lovejoy. Enjoyed it but seemed dated.