Lovejoy

Lovejoy is outbid at an auction by a mysterious woman who later visits him and elicits his help in deciphering a riddle from an antique. When she decides to end the investigation, Lovejoy keeps digging.

At a rural auction, Lovejoy covets a valuable Welsh dresser but must trick the other antique scouts into thinking itís rubbish. Although his plan succeeds, he may regret the deceptionóthe dresser turns out to be a lot more trouble than itís worth.

When an auctioneer suddenly drops out at the last minute, Gimbert recruits Lovejoy to preside over a number of salesówhich, of course, Lovejoy uses to his advantage. But the trickery has only begun, as Lovejoy must find a way to retrieve the antiques that a former drug addict sold for cash.

Severely late on his rent, Lovejoy is threatened by an inebriated Gimbert. To make amends, Lovejoy agrees to comb through the remnants of a deceased manís house for Gimbert. Itís a tedious job, but what he eventually finds there proves intriguing.

A man is murdered for a pair of pistols that, up until this point, have only been considered legendary. The dead manís brother then seeks out Lovejoy, who reluctantly agrees to investigate.

One of Lovejoyís friends, an elderly man who makes exquisite forgeries, stumbles onto a busy cricket field, collapses, and dies. No foul play is suspected until his widow visits Lovejoy, claiming that a precious snuffbox her husband left to her was stolen.

Lady Jane gets involved with a suave but shady entrepreneur who has a dubious plan to open up a new art-deco antiques house. Elsewhere, a couple takes to scamming shop clerks with a painterly one-two punch.

At a bereavement sale, Lovejoy makes a trade for an old clock. His instincts about the relic are rightówhat appear to be early 19th-century love letters are discovered hidden in its base. But proving their authenticity is another story.

Lovejoy advises a wealthy client in an illegal antiques-trading ring and comes under suspicion when his employer is found bludgeoned to death on the side of the road. More intrigue awaits as an eccentric millionaire recruits Lovejoy to help him smuggle antiques from Venice.

Now in Venice, Lovejoy tries to thwart two powerful identical sistersówho are intent on looting the cityís antiquitiesóby joining their ranks. When they realize heís up to something, Lovejoyís life may be at stake.