Lovejoy meets another antique dealer, the affable Harry Catapodis, at a dinner party hosted by a rich, beautiful American widow, Cassandra Lynch, whose late husband had been sold a number of valuable objets d'art by Catapodis. He confides in Lovejoy that he is in the process of selling a rich Japanese businessman the tea bowl used by the Emporer Hirohito just before resigning his divinity at the end of World War II. Lovejoy proves the bowl to be a fake, and also that a Canaletto and other items sold by Catapodis to Cassandra's husband are forgeries. They all vow to revenge themselves on Catapodis using a priceless 9 million dollar icon once owned by Catherine the Great as bait.
—duke1029@aol.com