Wilton House, England, Rembrandt painting stolen from, 192
Worth, Adam, art thefts perpetrated by, 150-151
Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company, 129
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The cops and robbers who specialize in art crime are few in number and wary of strangers. My guide to their ranks was Charley Hill. In a life marked by unlikely choices, Hill’s decision to take an outsider behind the scenes ranks as one of the most surprising. The most important access Hill provided was to his own thoughts. I pestered him with questions in long interviews in London, New York, and Washington, D.C.; in short stints on the Staten Island ferry, a double-decker bus in London, and at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington; and in endless e-mails. For his patience in putting up with so intrusive a visitor, and for his forbearance in agreeing from the start that he would have no say in whatever I eventually wrote, I’m deeply grateful.
I had wanted to write about thieves who steal art and the detectives who chase them since 1990, when two crooks snatched $300 million of art from the Gardner Museum in Boston, my hometown. Two of my good friends, Reed Hundt and Bill Young, helped me turn that vague hope into a specific plan. At every stage of the process, from the earliest outline through draft after draft, Bill and Reed served as unpaid but overworked advisers.
No writer can have better colleagues than grown children who are writers themselves. My two formidably talented sons, Sam and Ben, labored mightily to round their father’s prose into shape.
Michele Missner, a researcher who is herself a precious find, cheerfully unraveled countless mysteries both large and small. Katerina Barry, an artist and a computer savant, took time from her own projects to gather and arrange pictures from around the globe. Pat Barry, a writer and historian with an encyclopedic knowledge of English (as opposed to American) slang and usage, labored valiantly to help me dodge the pitfalls that bedevil an innocent abroad.
Rafe Sagalyn, my agent and my friend, shepherded this project along from the beginning. Hugh Van Dusen is as superlative an editor as his reputation would imply, and that is high praise indeed.
For Lynn, for bottomless reserves of inspiration, insight, and encouragement, my fervent and inadequate gratitude.
P.S. Insights, Interviews & More…
PRAISE FOR
“Dolnick raises good questions about museum responsibility, the complexities of criminal motivation and the sheer madness of the human drive to attach obscene price tags to objects that were created for loftier purposes.”
—John Loughery,
“Art theft generates between four and six billion dollars a year in revenues, according to Interpol. That makes it number three in illicit commerce, behind drugs and illegal arms. An engaging tour of this little known world is found in Edward Dolnick’s
—Monica Gagnier,
“Riveting. … Readers entering the little-known world of Hill with Dolnick as guide are unlikely to exit willingly.”
—Steve Weinberg,
“A masterful portrait of the ‘rescue artist.’ “
—Karen Algeo Krizman,
—Donald Harington,
“[A] fascinating, stranger-than-fiction story. … The prose is quick, witty, wildly intriguing, and Dolnick’s voice really shines through as he reports the story with a contagious excitement for the topic. … Dolnick pieces together an exceptional book of art thieves, art detectives, artists, and their works, and even after the first chapter it is hard to put the book down and not feel slightly more refined and sophisticated with all the acquired art knowledge.”
—Ben Taylor,
“A highly accessible and well-written book that often evokes a crime novel rather than a work of nonfiction….
—Lawrence M. Kaye and Howard N. Spiegler,
“Edward Dolnick has given us much more than an outstanding detective story that happens to be taken from real life. He has provided us with an insider’s view of the hidden world of art theft, where paintings by old masters are used to settle gambling debts and priceless canvases are rolled up carelessly in the trunk. This is a fascinating tale, expertly told with characters as crisply drawn as any Rembrandt and the sort of intrigue generally found only in a thriller.”
—Arthur Golden, author of
—Mary Roach, author of
“A lively and literate romp through the world of big-time art crime, led by Scotland Yard’s rumpled undercover ace, Charley Hill. … A rollicking good ride.”
—Gerard O’Neill, co-author of
ALSO BY EDWARD DOLNICK
About the author
Meet Edward Dolnick
