''The Judas Pair'' is a

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

by Jonathan Gash. It is the first book in the Lovejoy series. The story was first published in 1977 and won a

John Creasey Award __NOTOC__ The CWA New Blood Dagger is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association (CWA) for first books by previously unpublished writers. It is given in memory of CWA founder John Creasey and was previously known as the Joh ...

. The story was adapted by

Ian La Frenais Ian La Frenais (born 7 January 1937) is a retired English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including '' The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', ' ...

for the BBC television series ''

Lovejoy ''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six ser ...

'' starring

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and M ...

. The episode "The Judas Pair" first aired on 7 February 1986 as episode 5 of season 1.

Plot summary

Antiques An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

dealer Lovejoy is commissioned to hunt down what he considers to be a

mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

object, the

Judas Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of ...

pair, the supposed

thirteenth In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is most commonly major or minor . A thirteenth chord is th ...

pair Pair or PAIR or Pairing may refer to: Government and politics * Pair (parliamentary convention), matching of members unable to attend, so as not to change the voting margin * ''Pair'', a member of the Prussian House of Lords * ''Pair'', the Fren ...

of duelling pistols, an 18th-century flintlock made by the famous

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

gunmaker Durs Egg. After two

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

s Lovejoy is certain that the pistols do exist, and are now in the hands of the murderer. Lovejoy solves the mystery by drawing from his comprehensive knowledge of the antique world, poring on the backgrounds of materials so that past and present deceit and criminality are revealed.

Publication history

* ''The Judas Pair'', Jonathan Gash, Collins Crime Club, 1977, , hardcover * ''The Judas Pair'', Jonathan Gash, Harper & Row, 1977, , hardcover * ''The Judas Pair'', Jonathan Gash, Dell Publishing, 1981, , paperback * ''The Judas Pair'', Jonathan Gash, W. F. Howes, 1999, ,

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

cassette * ''The Judas Pair'', Jonathan Gash, W. F. Howes, 2000, , audiobook CD

References

External links

* 1977 British novels English novels British crime novels British picaresque novels Collins Crime Club books {{1970s-crime-novel-stub