The Judas Pair is a crime novel

Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...

 by Jonathan Gash

John Grant (Lovejoy)

John Grant is an English crime writer, who writes under the pen name Jonathan Gash. He is the author of the Lovejoy series of novels. He wrote the novel The Incomer under the pen name Graham Gaunt....

, author of the Lovejoy series of novels. The story was first published in 1977 and won a John Creasey Award.

The story was adapted by Ian La Frenais

Ian La Frenais

Ian La Frenais, OBE, , is an 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?, Porridge, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.They have also written various other work...

 for the BBC television series Lovejoy

Lovejoy

Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...

starring Ian McShane

Ian McShane

Ian David McShane is an English actor, director, producer, voice artist, and comedian.Despite appearing in numerous films, McShane is best known for his television roles, particularly the BBC's Lovejoy and HBO's Western drama Deadwood...

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

Plot summary

Antiques

Antiques

An antique is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age , beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features...

 dealer Lovejoy is commissioned to hunt down what he considers to be a mythical object, the Judas

Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...

 pair, the supposed thirteenth

13 (number)

13 is the natural number after 12 and before 14. It is the smallest number with eight letters in its name spelled out in English. It is also the first of the teens – the numbers 13 through 19 – the ages of teenagers....

 pair

Pair

The word pair, derived via the French words pair/paire from the Latin par 'equal', can refer to:* 2 , two of something* Topological pair, an inclusion of topological spaces.* Tuple* Product type* Au pair, a work agreement...

 of duelling pistols made by the famous London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 gunmaker

Gunsmith

A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds firearms. This occupation is different from an armorer. The armorer primarily maintains weapons and limited repairs involving parts replacement and possibly work involving accurization...

 Durs Egg

Durs Egg

Durs Egg was a Swiss-born British gunmaker, noted for his flintlock pistols and for his company's production of the Ferguson rifle.Egg was apprenticed in Solothurn and Paris before establishing his own business in London in 1772...

. After two murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

s Lovejoy is certain that the pistols do exist, and are now in the hands of the murderer.

Publication history

• The Judas Pair, Johnathan Gash, Collins Crime Club, 1977, ISBN 0002313839, hardcover.
• The Judas Pair, Johnathan Gash, Harper & Row, 1977, ISBN 0-06-011464-9, hardcover.
• The Judas Pair, Johnathan Gash, Dell Publishing, 1981, ISBN 0-440-14354-3, paperback.
• The Judas Pair, Johnathan Gash, W. F. Howes, 1999, ISBN 1-84197-004-2, audiobook cassette.
• The Judas Pair, Johnathan Gash, W. F. Howes, 2000, ISBN 1-84197-091-3, audiobook CD.