The Very Last Gambado

A gambado is a scam on a magnificent scale, and as such is irresistible to the devious, delightful Lovejoy, Gash's lover/dealer/forger of antiques, whose previous misadventures, criminal and amorous, have been chronicled in Jade Woman , Pearlhanger et al. Hollywood comes to East Anglia as Lovejoy is drawn into a high-paying consulting project for a movie spectacular about a theft from the British Museum. Complications are introduced by an aged Russian countess whose collection of family heirlooms sets Lovejoy's divvying heart a-pounding; by a local heavy reportedly sending containers loaded with antiques to America; by the death of an eminent neighborhood forger; and by the disappearance of a dealer. In irreverent, lively prose, Gash leads Lovejoy through an intricate plot that will challenge even the closest readers. Devoid of compunction or scruple, the appealingly unconventional hero leaps from bed to bed, from scheme to scheme, into a final, highly moral victory complete with shoot-out, smokescreen and resounding defeat for the real bad guys. As always, Lovejoy's calamitous path is strewn with priceless bits of antiques lore. (Sept.)