The Ten Word Game [Hardcover]

Jonathan Gash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 2004

A mystery in the long-running series featuring the well-known antiques "divvy" and general bad boy, Lovejoy.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Mystery writing doesn't get any better than Gash's Lovejoy series, in which a clever rogue, whose morals and antics are straight out of Restoration comedy, makes his way as an expert and sometime forger in the British antiques world. As Lovejoy explains in numerous asides to the reader, this world is crawling with crooks who prey upon the gullible public. This makes a perfect setup for a series (this is the twenty-second Lovejoy novel) in which the hero repeatedly outcons the cons, relying always on his expertise and rare gift of "divvying," i.e., experiencing the physical sensation of dizziness or queasiness (or both) in the presence of genuine antiques. The title here refers to Gash's mental habit of trying to reduce complex situations to a precis of 10 words. The situation he finds himself in this time, however, defies any sense-making formula (also making it a fantastic, nonformulaic read). Lovejoy is on the lam (for stealing his own Rembrandt forgery from a stately home) when he is lured aboard a cruise ship. Lovejoy's kidnappers want him, as the only surviving "divvy," to sniff out and steal priceless treasures from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. Lovejoy, lover of art and antiques and hater of art thieves (forgery is tolerable), has his hands full trying to escape and outwit his captors. As always in this series, readers will learn much about art and antiques along the way. A beautifully written, riveting mystery romp. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Mystery writing doesn't get any better than Gash's Lovejoy series . . . A beautifully written, riveting mystery romp."
-- Booklist (Booklist ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (January 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312323476
• ISBN-13: 978-0312323479
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,117,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The words are what it's about, September 16, 2004

By 

jaymac (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ten Word Game (Hardcover)

I would read this book just for the words - words I've never seen before, juicy new words, almost none of which appear in my dictionary since they turn out to be British slang. I fall for British writers the way some people fall for accents. "Black hair fungated above his straining belt." "Benjie would marmalise me if I so much as looked at Gloria." "Once a boxer, he looks a real gent and wears a monocle, very Brigade of Guards, waistcoated, suit, George boots, a toff." "Rob the Hermitage, join this gaggle of duckeggs enacting a crazy Priscilla-of-the-Lower-Third dream?" "A crocodile of passengers," "I wittered, a perfect prat," "a mingy three pieces of toast ... a manky plate of toast," "I said, gormless," "scarpering through undergrowth...." How can you not like a book abounding with such charms?

The book has even more pleasures, chief among them antiques and art forgery. Lovejoy is a "divvy," someone who can divine true antiques by nearly fainting when he's in their presence. He's used this talent for a career just sort of definitely almost barely (his words) this side of the law. He is drawn against his will into a mysterious caper involving the Hermitage and a shipful of antique enthusiasts, almost none of whom can recognize a real antique from a fake. The mystery never completely resolves, a flaw that can be overlooked since it's secondary to the local color in the book. Occasional forays into the history of amber, pottery, wicker chairs and other antiques are a lot of fun, and Lovejoy is quite a storyteller. Is it true that Elvis once entered an Elvis impersonator contest and lost?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovejoy Takes A Cruise, January 17, 2004

By 

Dominic Smith (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ten Word Game (Hardcover)

Here's another wonderful entry in the long running, always entertaining Lovejoy series. Once again the "lovable rogue" - I know, it's a hackneyed phrase, but also most appropriate - Lovejoy, the antique specialist with questionable ethics, is up to his old tricks in his usual inimitable style.

Lovejoy is on the move, as usual the reason for this is to avoid capture, finding passage on a luxury liner for what could have been a very relaxing voyage. Of course, Lovejoy being Lovejoy, nothing is ever easy and a constant stream of unusual events soon enlivens the trip. These events shape his movements, backing him into a corner that puts him at his most imaginative in his bid to get out from under.

The Lovejoy books are completely amusing and provide clever mysteries and this one lives right up to that billing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a smasher of a book!, March 2, 2006

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ten Word Game (Paperback)

This book is a real smasher. We have Lovejoy at his very best here. And the setting that Gash has set this book in is quite wonderful. And the women! Lovejoy has a whole string of quite wonderful women in his orbit this time. Lovejoy is on the lam again, and while he's hiding out in Southampton he gets hijacked onto an ocean cruise to Russia that includes all points north. He's living the high life on the cruise, and he meets all kinds of weird and wonderful people, but it takes him a while to determine why he was shanghaied and what this group of crooks need him for. But never fear. The irrepressible Lovejoy lands on his feet and he'll be around to deal with other outrageous adventures.