I like to think that, when feeling my way carefully through the rituals of passion, the lady in question has pretty much my full attention and very few things will distract me from the job in hand. A murder just outside is one of them . . . The victim, and two other antiques dealers who also came to a sticky end, were all working the same Scottish connection that I had been cultivation, so I decided to make myself scarce for a while. Where better to hide than at the root of the problem in the wilds of Scotland? There may be nothing very Scottish about me but, when my life's on the line, I can blend into the Highlands like a haggis in the heather. It was also the best place to find out why the antiques trade down south had become such a dangerous business.

When Lovejoy witnesses a car crash that turns out to be a murder - with one of his oldest antique-dealer friends the victim - he sets out on a trail of revenge that leaves him pondering several bewildering questions. Why did his friend buy up a load of junk furniture? What did he want with an old doctor's bag? Why was his friend killed? Who was trying to kill Lovejoy and - most perplexing of all - what the hell is he doing potholing through underground tunnels dodging armed hit men?ReviewSplendidly energetic ... Gash gets better and better. The Times About the AuthorJonathan Gash is the pen name ofJohn Grant, who also wrote under the name of Graham Gaunt. Born in 1933 in Bolton, Lancashire, Grant trained as a doctor and worked as both a GP and a pathologist. He also served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, where he rose to the rank of Major, and was head of bacteriology at the University of London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His first Lovejoy novel, The Judas Pair, won the Crime Writers' Association prestigious John Creasey award in 1977. Grant lives in Colchester, Essex.

Kneeling to receive Holy Communion at St Saviour's Church in Dublin one Sunday, it suddenly dawns on Magda Finnan how she can earn God's blessing. She vows to kill Father Doran.A cleaner at the St Cosmo Care Home for the Elderly, the nineteen-year old remains haunted by her upbringing in a Magdalene orphanage. Among her memories of discipline, prescription and the ever-present fear of damnation, one image in particular defies the passage of time: her best friend, Lucy, falling down the deep stairwell to her death.Struggling to reconcile the Order's all-pervading principles with the reality of 20th Century Dublin, she encounters a world that is also labouring under traditional religious strictures and an ingrained sense of English oppression, and the illiterate Magda finds herself dreaming of a better life she can barely imagine.However, as the ghosts of the past refuse to lie quiet, a very different revelation awaits her. Ultimately, she will have to realise that everything...

Every antique dealer is a bit of a detective, following clues to find the trophies that pay the rent, but when Lovejoy takes on the job of tracking down a pair of duelling pistols so rare that he's not even sure actually exist, he needs all the instincts of a detective to pick his way through an unsolved crime.Along the way, he becomes convinced that the weapons do exist but that they have fallen into the hands of a vile murderer. Locating the ancient weapons seems like the least of his problems when Lovejoy then finds himself fighting for his life in a duel to the death!Review“One of the most likable rogues in mystery history” – Chicago Sun-Times --Chicago Sun-Times About the AuthorJonathan Gash is the pen name ofJohn Grant, who also wrote under the name of Graham Gaunt. Born in 1933 in Bolton, Lancashire, Grant trained as a doctor and worked as both a GP and a pathologist. He also served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, where he rose to the rank of Major, and was head of bacteriology at the University of London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His first Lovejoy novel, The Judas Pair, won the Crime Writers' Association prestigious John Creasey award in 1977. Grant lives in Colchester, Essex.

One of the most likable rogues in mystery history. The Bitish-Roman coins had been around for centuries, so when they disappear from a local museum, Lovejoy has a more than passing interest in finding them. Abandoning his usual pursuits of good buys and willing women, Lovejoy finds himself in the much less agreeable company of one Dandy Jack, the sinister Rink, and the lovely, treacheerous Nicole. They lead him on a merry chase through a countryside filled with heather and danger. A superb tdour through the glittering and greedy world of antiques. Previously published in England under the title, Gold From Gemini.

Lovejoy has heard of more nutters who have claimed to be in possession of the one, true Holy Grail than he has had hot dinners. He's not too impressed with the eccentric clergyman making the latest claim - especially when the good vicar turns out to be one of the finest forgers Lovejoy has ever met. But when the vicar and his lady companion end up dead it becomes clear that someone else is after the old man's artefact. To solve the mystery and protect a precious piece of history, Lovejoy puts his life on the line and acquires a surprising new partner...

I always think that a genuine friend is like a genuine antique - you'd go a long way to find one and you'd do anything to stop one getting broken. When an Italian gentleman made me an offer I couldn't refuse, stopping my friends from getting broken meant stealing a very valuable antique.'Somebody else has got my antique and I want it back,' was how he put it.'Who has it?' I asked.Without a flicker of a smile he replied, 'The Pope.'If you think of the Vatican as a big church where the Pope lives, then think again. It is a complete walled city with its own shops, its own bank and its own armed security in the shape of the ridiculously costumed Swiss Guards. Look a bit daft, don't they? But they're well trained and well armed young men. Well, if stealing antiques from the Pope was easy, everybody would be doing it, wouldn't they?