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
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FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Cash's Lovejoy, whose numerous escapades have earned him an army of delighted followers, is never completely out of trouble. But in Lovejoy's own world, there are those who have it in for the brash antiques dealer: his dealer, competitors, his customers, numerous delightful women (and sometimes their husbands), and the British police, aided by an avid bounty hunter. Usually Lovejoy can slide out from under, with the help of his rare skill as a "divvy," a person with the inborn ability to "divine" the authenticity of an artifact. When that doesn't work, he's very good at talking himself out of trouble. Failing all else, he runs." Lovejoy is running now. The bounty hunter is on his trail, the police want him for stealing a forgery he created himself, and he has been reduced to clerking in a bric-a-brac store catering to tourists in the city of Southampton. His plan is to flee the country on one of the port's many visiting cruise ships. This time, though, partly due to the treachery of an old flame and partly to some canny planning on the part of a clever criminal, Lovejoy is tricked into being held on a ship when it sails. He's treated royally as a passenger, but to his dismay he discovers that they need his knowledge for the commission of a crime in a foreign country that will result in one of the most daring and amazing thefts in history. But exactly what they want him to do remains a mystery. When he finally finds out, his former trouble will seem to be mere schoolboy scrapes.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

However outlandish, Lovejoy's tribulations are still more fun than what passes for entertainment on most cruise ships. And since Gash is writing with more restraint on this trip, having eased up on his usual frantic pace and cut down on the unintelligible slang, the reader is more at leisure to soak up Lovejoy's lively lectures on the antiques that make his divvy's heart go boing. Whether expounding on the fabulous history of the Amber Room or instructing us on how to fake an antique silver coffeepot from a lowly beer tankard, the rascal is without peer. — Marilyn Stasio

Kirkus Reviews