The Great California Game

The inimitable Lovejoy (seen in Jade Woman ), still on the run from British authorities, has arrived in New York as an illegal immigrant--and he loves Manhattan. Magda, his prostitute next-door neighbor in a fleabag hotel, has found him a job tending bar, and he's trying to master U.S. mores and slang (just as abstruse as his East Anglian lingo). As usual, he interrupts the first-person narration of his adventures with fascinating antique lore, and the marvelous ``divvy'' chime still warms his chest when he spots a genuinely valuable specimen. This talent gets Lovejoy involved with some extremely rich, extremely peculiar, extremely lethal Americans who are playing a mysterious game. A convoluted series of events takes our hero to a posh yacht on Long Island Sound, the bowels of the W. 42nd Street bus terminal in New York City, the Metropolitan and other museums, a Virginia thoroughbred farm, a glitzy Nebraska religious theme park (operated by Jim and Tammy Faye clones) and a New Orleans riverboat--dodging would-be assassins en route. At last Lovejoy, Magda and her son (at seven already an accomplished thief) hit L.A. for the grand finale of the California game, the scam of the century. In spite of some sloppiness and a few dull patches, this 14th Lovejoy mystery sparkles with Gash's characteristic energy and wit. Author tour. (Oct.)