Art Theft

  Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by Anthony M. Amore and Tom Mashberg. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Adult nonfiction.

Amore has been the head of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston since 2005. Mashberg, a journalist by trade, has investigated the 1990 art theft at the Gardner for many years. Two of the paintings stolen were by Rembrandt. In this interesting nonfiction book, they look at the works by the famous artist and discuss the thefts and recovery of many of his works over the years.

For more about the Gardner:
         




  The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill,
                            a division of Workman Publishing. Adult fiction.
                            (October, 2012 publication date)

About as improbable as reading on a rainy July Sunday afternoon in Houston, I actually commented to my husband that I was reading one of my favorite books ever. Now that I have finished this well-wrought mystery, bit of historical fiction, and, yet, a thoroughly contemporary espionage thriller, I stand by that assessment. I got the galley at ALA in Anaheim, but watch for this one's publication in October, 2012.

B. A. Shapiro writes so smoothly that readers will swear they could go the window and see Boston. From Sam beer to the fictional Beverly Arms to the descriptions of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the authentic touches ring true. Handsome art dealer Aiden Markel and artist Claire Roth find themselves wrapped in a plot with twists, turns, and lots of paintings. Especially fun are the descriptions of two older women, Beatrice Cormier and Sandra Stoneham, who deffy the stereotypes of the elderly and femininely weak. An example of the seamlessness of Shapiro's writing is the last scene on page 217 which foreshadows Claire's problems yet to come.

Written in the first person, the narrative switches back and forth from the present to three years ago when Claire had some difficulties with another love and colleague. Gradually, readers discover what happened and how very much all that affected Claire and her work. Interspersed are (fictional) letters from Isabel Stewart Gardner herself, information on modern forgers and their mediums and aging techniques, history about the Gardner art thefts, and Gardner family lore. Keen-eyed historians will spot a few cracks in the veneer, but Shapiro includes notes on the research which set all aright in the end.

Degas, Gardner, an intriguing modern artist, mystery, love...what more could anyone wish on a summer afternoon?  Well, other than  perhaps a visit to the Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum itself...