# 11 Moonspender (©1986)
Genre: Mystery
Location: England
Moonspender (1986) intertwines several plotlines: Lovejoy is asked to validate the source of rumors about a genuine Roman bronze found locally; coerced into arranging a large wedding for a womanizing friend; manages a failing farm at the bequest of a wealthy lover; is forced to participate in a rigged television quiz show about antiques; helps redecorate a new restaurant and helps its conservative owners deal with the wild tastes of their gay decorators; and is intrigued by high-tech, midnight treasure hunters. Outraged by an irritating television hostess, Lovejoy bursts into inventive name-calling, denounces the fakes, and in general creates chaos and havoc that results in the death of a forger, run down by a bull. There are a barrage of lawsuits and romantic complications as Lovejoy moves from bed to bed and scheme to scheme. Readers learn how to fake a Roman bronze artifact and how to make falsehoods ring true: believe in them at the moment of delivery. All is unraveled at the end. Gash's portrait of Lovejoy's "swishy" associates, Sandy and Mel (and Cyril and Keyveen in later novels), adds tongue- in-cheek humor to the satiric mix, especially their campy come-on to embarrassed village cops and their multicolored Rover with angel wings projecting from the mudguards, orange-striped curtains, and "a dazzling array of painted flowers, stripes, zigzags, and twinning greenery." Despite their heavily exaggerated lifestyle, they are basically benign, in contrast to the vicious, greedy hypocrites preying on the unwary, whom Lovejoy foils.
By 1988 Gash could afford to retire from his daily round of medical duties. He opted to serve as a private consultant, a specialist in infectious diseases. He also spoke in libraries throughout Britain on his personal, intuitive theory about the impulses that motivate and produce creative writing.
He was also free to pursue his interest in dialects. In 1989 he published an article on dialect for the Journal of the Lancashire Dialect Society under his real name. For some time he has regularly contributed poems in Lancashire dialect to the Record, and in the Lovejoy series he has his protagonist regularly translate arcane terminology, underworld slang, and gypsy terms such as jinney-mengro, chohawno, and moskey. Moreover, Lovejoy's attitudes and concerns are expressed in colorful slang that suits his casual lifestyle and carefree ways. Lovejoy and his drunken barker, Tinker, converse in dealer's slang about "whifflers" and "vannies," all of which Lovejoy carefully explains. Other examples of such slang are "knocking down" (stopping at the highest bid), "naughty" (deliberately falsified), "cloth job" (raiding a church), "flocking" (gradually releasing antiques and fakes claimed to be from a single source), and "twinning" (the practice of dividing up a piece of antique furniture and using the parts to create two pieces, each half genuine, half false). The novels also include technical terms such as "electrochemical abrasive stripping voltammetry," "depletion gilding," and "Fourier transform interferometry," and antique terms such as "japanned," "thurible," and "arctophiles" (teddy bear collectors). Such a mix of slang and specialized jargon reflects Lovejoy's working-class origins, his knowledge of arcane historical terms, his expertise, his individualism, and his close acquaintance with underworld activities. It also reveals Gash as an amateur linguist with a good ear for dialect and a deep-seated interest in language.
By 1988 Gash could afford to retire from his daily round of medical duties. He opted to serve as a private consultant, a specialist in infectious diseases. He also spoke in libraries throughout Britain on his personal, intuitive theory about the impulses that motivate and produce creative writing.
He was also free to pursue his interest in dialects. In 1989 he published an article on dialect for the Journal of the Lancashire Dialect Society under his real name. For some time he has regularly contributed poems in Lancashire dialect to the Record, and in the Lovejoy series he has his protagonist regularly translate arcane terminology, underworld slang, and gypsy terms such as jinney-mengro, chohawno, and moskey. Moreover, Lovejoy's attitudes and concerns are expressed in colorful slang that suits his casual lifestyle and carefree ways. Lovejoy and his drunken barker, Tinker, converse in dealer's slang about "whifflers" and "vannies," all of which Lovejoy carefully explains. Other examples of such slang are "knocking down" (stopping at the highest bid), "naughty" (deliberately falsified), "cloth job" (raiding a church), "flocking" (gradually releasing antiques and fakes claimed to be from a single source), and "twinning" (the practice of dividing up a piece of antique furniture and using the parts to create two pieces, each half genuine, half false). The novels also include technical terms such as "electrochemical abrasive stripping voltammetry," "depletion gilding," and "Fourier transform interferometry," and antique terms such as "japanned," "thurible," and "arctophiles" (teddy bear collectors). Such a mix of slang and specialized jargon reflects Lovejoy's working-class origins, his knowledge of arcane historical terms, his expertise, his individualism, and his close acquaintance with underworld activities. It also reveals Gash as an amateur linguist with a good ear for dialect and a deep-seated interest in language.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 276: British Mystery and Thriller Writers Since 1960. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Gina Macdonald, Nicholls State University. Gale Group, 2003. pp. 160-174.
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