The Rich and the Profane

This could only happen to Lovejoy. One minute a beautiful young girl is asking him how to steal a cheap Edwardian necklace; the next he's jetting off to the Channel Isles, posing as a showbiz impresario organizing 'The Gamble of the Century' - and avenging a murder. It all begins when Prior George Metivier and his sister Marie ask for Lovejoy's help. The ancient Albansham Priory is in deep financial trouble, owing to George's heavy gambling debts, and they would like Lovejoy to suss out the priory's valuable antiques. For research purposes, of course, Lovejoy and his friend Gesso the cat burglar break into the priory in the dead of night. Gesso is caught but Lovejoy for once is lucky (or so he thinks) and escapes with a rare Roderick O'Conor painting. But despite frantic nocturnal attempts to conceal it, by morning the canvas has vanished from his derelict workshop. Only hours later Gesso disappears, the priory suddenly closes, and Prior George and his flock are gone. Worse still, at the now eerily quiet Albansham Priory, Lovejoy finds evidence that Gesso has been murdered. Soon, just staying alive becomes a juggling act for the irrepressible Lovejoy.