Reviewed By Liz

I love Lovejoy. Lovejoy is at first glance a bounder, a cad, and a criminal. But he has his own set of rules he tries to live by that make him seem somehow honorable. And you can understand how the many women in his life have a hard time deciding whether to sleep with him or smack him upside the head.

In The Ten Word Game, Lovejoy is on the run from past misdeeds and gets caught up in a net so big he can’t figure out where the edges are to make his escape. And this time he doesn’t have the usual cast of characters with him to help out – he has been Shanghaied onto a cruise ship full of antique enthusiasts. This is an excellent plot device because Gash introduces a ton of characters and we have no idea who to trust.

The mystery? I didn’t see it coming and should have. Maybe. I love that it snuck up on me even though I should have guessed it. Because I know about … but I won’t ruin it for you.

And, once again, I marvel at the amount of information that Gash knows about the antiques business, both legitimate and not. And how effortlessly he can include this information in the book. Frankly, this takes real talent. How many times have you read a book in which the author just dumps the data and it is painful to read? My guess is too many times. My recommendation is that you pick up this and all of the Lovejoy books. They are a treat.

Mystery Book Reviews by Reviewed By Liz.com ©2006

Whenever I read a book by Jonathan Gash, I wonder if he had a misspent youth. Sure, he grew up to be a distinguished doctor in real life, but how did he learn so much about antiques forgeries for the Lovejoy books and the world of prostitution rings in London for this book? It just makes you wonder…

Different Women Dancing is the first in a series by Gash about Dr. Clare Burtonall. She has two encounters with a strange man at the scenes of accidents and her curiosity prods her to find out more about him and his life as a male prostitute. And just as Gash draws us into the Lovejoy books with all the detailed information on antiques, we are drawn into the underground world of prostitution rings and the people who populate them. Each chapter heading defines a new and different term for the reader so you have a better idea what is being referred to in the street slang conversation between the different players. And this definition of terms is an excellent thing, because this book is dense with dialect and slang. I read a fair number of English mysteries and I still was lost once or twice.

And now let’s digress for a moment and talk about sex. Jonathan Gash writes sexy books and this book is about the sex trade. I couldn’t help but think as I read this book, that Gash’s depiction of the world of prostitution was somewhat glamorized by his own views on sex. I find it hard to believe that the world of professional prostitutes is as nice as depicted in this book. There is violence and murder in this book, which you think would be the norm, but Gash somehow tries to keep the sexual aspect above it all.

This Dr. Burtonall series is new to me, but I have read all of the Lovejoy books. While some readers might be annoyed that Lovejoy usually has sex with several women in each of the books (and then sponges off them), Lovejoy says the most complementary things about women, if not to them. In the last Lovejoy book I read, there was almost an Earth mother/Goddess type reverence in the comments made about the women Lovejoy slept with. Which makes me want to go back to the earliest Lovejoy books and see if this element was present all the way along or if this was something that Lovejoy/Gash learned with age.

But anyway… aside from what I feel is a probably a slightly unrealistic view of the sex trade, this is a pretty good book. I look forward to reading more.

Did I guess it? Some, but not all.

Mystery Book Reviews by Reviewed By Liz.com ©2006