The law library at work has a "paperback exchange," where you can take out pleasure reads for free, or donate books. (In practice, it includes hardcovers and a few audio books.) For some reason, the selection tends heavily toward mysteries, and today the new ones had several in a series about an antique dealer.
The Judas Pair, by Jonathan Gash, is the first of the Lovejoy series, and as I'd guessed, does indeed have cool how-things-work vibes about the antique business. However, the first-person narrator is a complete jerk, and while the ending is initially cool in an adrenaline-inducing way, it doesn't really make sense on sober reflection. This one's going back to the paperback exchange. (I might get the rest and just read the antique stuff. I have no actual interest in buying antiques or collecting things, it's just the kind of thing I find soothing to read about.)
Comments:
#1 :: Mary Kay wrote on April 16, 2003 at 2:17 PM:
#2 :: Kate wrote on April 16, 2003 at 9:43 PM:
I was figuring I could skim them for the antiquey bits.
(Nine, really?)
#3 :: David Tate wrote on September 19, 2005 at 3:36 PM:
Lovejoy is indeed (nearly) without redeeming qualities, but of the 4 or 5 of these I read before I gave up, one of them stands out in my memory as head-and-shoulders above the rest. It’s called Firefly Gadroon, and I would recommend it even given your reaction to The Judas Pair. No warranties explicit or implied, but I’m glad I read that far.
(I was terribly amused by the way the TV series based on these books cleaned up the protagonist—a transformation of Hawkeye-like proportions.)
#4 :: Kate wrote on September 19, 2005 at 7:43 PM:
Hmmm, the paperback exchange might well have that one; it sounds familiar, anyway. Thanks for the recommendation.
#5 :: David Tate wrote on September 19, 2005 at 11:59 PM:
My pleasure.
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I can't really recommend reading more just for the antique stuff. I like that kind of thing so much I'll even read Tamar Myers, but Lovejoy is such a pratt I can't bear those book. I think I read 2 or 3 before I gave up in disgust. But remember (as I always say in these circumstances) I read 9 of John Norman's Gor books.
MKK