The Art Thief

[Revised, shelves and pictures added 10/28/22] An intriguing art mystery. A grand list of quirky characters: detectives (one a lot like TV’s Lieutenant Colombo), artists, art professors, art gallery curators, art experts and auctioneers. This is the art underworld of fakers, forgers and thieves. Thre......more

I began reading this book, positive that I was going to hate it. I come from the Art History field, and you'd be surprised how many people just massacre art works with false information, or far-fetched ideas (Da Vinci Code, anyone?). I was surprised to find accurate interpretations and readings; from......more

This book is essentially a mystery, a genre that I am rather unqualified to rate appropriately. Overall, I think the mystery aspect of the book was entertaining and not overtly obvious, so probably successful. More than that, however, I adored this book. It is easily one of the best I have read. Of c......more

Torn how to review this. I loved the first half, and enjoyed all the mini lectures on art history and detecting fakes. The science behind attempting to discern fakes is fascinating — there’s so much money at stake in the process of “authenticating”. But then the book drifted away from me, or my inte......more

Noah Charney is a professor of art history and an expert in fine art forgery and theft. And in this novel he proves himself to be a sly spinner of detective yarn. The Art Thief is a tale of brain-teasing complexity involving multiple, interconnected forgeries and thefts of historic paintings from se......more