[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-114673-en":3,"doc-seo-114673-105":28,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":89},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":26,"read_time":27},114673,2336464648746,"Skyler","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",1,"Story & Novel","The Vatican Rip - Chapter 1 - The trouble with life is, you start off worse and go downhill","The opening of The Vatican Rip launches Lovejoy, an antique dealer struggling through a difficult January marked by poor business and harsh weather. Snow isolates his village, delaying travel and pushing him into uneasy disputes over valuable lace. At a local auction run by aggressive newcomers, he quickly confronts the risks of old enemies, fresh pressures, and escalating stakes as bidding begins and key encounters surface. The narrative blends humor with suspense and a fast, character-driven start to the case.","THE VATICAN RIP  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nThe Lovejoy series  \nThe Judas Pair Gold from Gemini The Grail Tree  \nSpend Game The Vatican Rip Firefly Gadroon The Sleepers of Erin The Gondola Scam Pearlhanger The Tartan Ringers Moonspender Jade Woman The Very Last Gambado The Great California Game The Lies ofFair Ladies Paid and Loving Eyes The Sin Within Her Smile The Grace in Older Women The Possessions ofa Lady The Rich and the Profane A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair Every Last Cent Ten Word Game Faces in the Pool  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nConstable & Robinson Ltd.  \n55–56 Russell Square  \nLondon WC1B 4HP  \n[www.constablerobinson.com](www.constablerobinson.com)  \nFirst published in the UK by Collins (The Crime Club), 1981  \nThis edition published by C&R Crime,  \nan imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd., 2013  \nCopyright © Jonathan Gash, 1981  \nThe right of Jonathan Gash to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988  \nAll rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed  \non the subsequent purchaser.  \nThis is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author ’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or  \nto actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.  \nA copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library  \nISBN: 978-1-47210-289-8 (paperback)  \nISBN: 978-1-47210-290-4 (ebook)  \nTypeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon  \nPrinted and bound in the UK  \n1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2  \nCover illustration: Peter Mac; [Cover design: www.simonlevyassociates.co.uk](Cover design: www.simonlevyassociates.co.uk)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nIn Rome, effort is unknown, energy is without purpose . . .  \n– Stendhal  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nDedicated to the Second Biennial Festival of Bolton, Greater Manchester (formerly Lancashire)–August 1981 – in gratitude for the rich appreciation of community feeling instilled in the author by his unique home town.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nChapter 1  \nThe trouble with life is, you start off worse and go downhill. I’d bought the rip in winter, two days before my Italian lessons with the delectable Maria were to begin – though I didn’t know that then.  \nI’m an antique dealer. The antiques game is always at a lowish ebb in January, probably because everybody’s spent up after Christmas and is knackered by the weather anyway, so I was on the scrounge and feeling very sorry for myself. It hadn’t been too easy of late, what with inflation and all that. And the scanty tourists who knock about East Anglia in deep midwinter tend to be holy, on their way to carol services in our ancient little chapels. They aren’t so keen on our priceless (or indeed worthless) antiques.  \nOn this particular day the roads out of my village were bad. There had been one of those heavy snowfalls the previous night after a solid weekend of sustained gales. Typically, the buses never even started out from the nearby town, and as far as civilization was concerned our village might have been on Mars. A couple of lads from Hall Farm managed to shift the worst snowdrifts using tractors and got the south road partially cleared by noon. I was lucky – so I thought – and got a lift in from Ann Scott, the cheerful and pretty lace-mad wife of an insurance assessor. She tried telling me that the famous nineteenth-century torchon lace was superior to Honiton if properly made. We argued all the way. She was wrong, of course.‘Torchon’ means dishcloth, but she wouldn’t be told. She has a ","cbCaiaV5KCQzucgQ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaV5KCQzucgQ","pdf",1293088,195,"English","en",105,"# Chapter 1\n## Lovejoy’s January troubles\n## Snow, travel delays, and lace arguments\n## Arrival at Seddon’s Auction Rooms\n## Lot Forty-One and a first crucial meeting","[{\"question\":\"Who is the protagonist in Chapter 1 of The Vatican Rip, and what does he do?\",\"answer\":\"The protagonist is Lovejoy, an antique dealer. Chapter 1 centers on his struggles in January and his movements toward an auction.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is Lovejoy’s day disrupted at the start of Chapter 1?\",\"answer\":\"Heavy snow and the failure of buses to run keep his village isolated. Roads are only partially cleared by tractors, delaying his arrival.\"},{\"question\":\"What event kicks off once Lovejoy reaches the auction?\",\"answer\":\"The auction is already underway, with the auctioneer calling lots, including Lot Forty-One, a silver bookmark.\"}]",1785402061,300,{"code":4,"msg":29,"data":30},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":31,"title":13,"keywords":32,"description":14,"schema_data":33,"social_meta":84,"head_meta":86,"extra_data":88,"updated_unix":26},"the-vatican-rip-chapter-1-the-trouble-with-life-is-you-start-off-worse-and-go-downhill","",{"@graph":34,"@context":83},[35,52,66],{"@type":36,"itemListElement":37},"BreadcrumbList",[38,42,46,49],{"item":39,"name":40,"@type":41,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":43,"name":44,"@type":41,"position":45},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":41,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":41,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-vatican-rip-chapter-1-the-trouble-with-life-is-you-start-off-worse-and-go-downhill/114673/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":60,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":61,"interactionStatistic":62},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":39,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-30",true,{"@type":63,"interactionType":64,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":65},"ViewAction",{"@type":67,"mainEntity":68},"FAQPage",[69,75,79],{"name":70,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":72},"Who is the protagonist in Chapter 1 of The Vatican Rip, and what does he do?","Question",{"text":73,"@type":74},"The protagonist is Lovejoy, an antique dealer. Chapter 1 centers on his struggles in January and his movements toward an auction.","Answer",{"name":76,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":77},"Why is Lovejoy’s day disrupted at the start of Chapter 1?",{"text":78,"@type":74},"Heavy snow and the failure of buses to run keep his village isolated. Roads are only partially cleared by tractors, delaying his arrival.",{"name":80,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":81},"What event kicks off once Lovejoy reaches the auction?",{"text":82,"@type":74},"The auction is already underway, with the auctioneer calling lots, including Lot Forty-One, a silver bookmark.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":85,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":87,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":23},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":90},[91,94,98,102,107,112,117,122,127,130,134],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},90,"story-novel",{"id":45,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":103,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":108,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":111},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":113,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]