Customer Reviews

The Gondola Scam

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lovejoy is commissioned to rescue the treasures of Venice before they sink into the sea-what happens because of this is a pleasure to read. A wonderful book!

While I always enjoy reading about the exploits of lovable rogue, antiques dealer Lovejoy, this one is just a bit too far fetched to be credible in any way. Lovejoy is contacted by an incredibly wealthy old lover and collector of antiques, who has come up with a scheme to replace all of the beautiful statues, paintings and parts of the famous structures in Venice, before it sinks into the sea. He is convinced that, at the rate that water levels are rising, all of its magnificent treasures will be lost and so plans to make replicas while having the real things sent to him. He recruits as many good forgers, art copyists and furniture makers as he can from all over the world and sets them to work in a secret workshop. Lovejoy gets up to his usual tricks in Venice, making love to as many beautiful women as possible and getting himself in and out of scrapes with a minimum of harm to himself. Jonathan Gash's descriptions of Venice and its treasures are superbly done and if the story is somewhat unbelievable, his depictions of life in and around Venice are enough to make a good read.

This is a fine romp of a Lovejoy book. In it we see him in beautiful Venice again trying to set up a big scam. But he always does this with the best intentions! "'Erm - one could even say that all these bad things that continue to happen to him are never his fault." - Oh! Pardon me! Lovejoy always says that about himself! I love this series, and I absolutely love the irrepressible Lovejoy. Gash always has interesting characters, funny puns and inuendoes and a cracking plot. Lovejoy always gets mixed up with some really bad dudes, and even though it's not pretty, he usually triumphs. These are great stories!