Product Description

The incredible story of the theft of a great painting and the brilliant detective who gets it back. On a frozen February morning in 1994, two men in a stolen car skidded to a halt in front of Norway?s national art museum. They raced across the snow and grabbed the ladder they had stashed away the night before. Two minutes later, they roared off. Wedged behind the driver sat one of the most valuable paintings in the world: Edvard Munch?s The Scream. The thieves had made sure the world was watching: the Winter Olympics, in Lillehammer, began that same morning. Baffled and humiliated, the Norwegian police called on the world?s greatest art detective, Charley Hill, a half-English, half-American undercover policeman. Edward Dolnick?s riveting tale takes us inside the art underworld, from ponytailed aristocrat Lord Bath, to 300-pound fence David Duddin. We meet Munch, too, a haunted misfit who spends nights feverishly trying to paint the visions in his head. Scotland Yard?s Charley Hill, an ex-soldier, a would-be priest, and a complicated mix of brilliance, foolhardiness and charm, is the book?s most compelling character. The hunt for The Scream will either cap his career or end in a fiasco that will dog him forever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #285499 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Review
'A masterpiece. Engrossing, entertaining, often surreally hilarious' Mary Roach, author, Stiff 'Much more than an outstanding detective story that happens to be taken from real life. Dolnick 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 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, Memoirs of a Geisha 'An entertaining account of the eternal struggle between high art and low cunning.' Time 'There has never been a better book on art crime.' ArtNews

About the Author
Edward Dolnick is a former chief science writer at the Boston Globe. He has written for the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine and many other publications. He has two grown sons and lives with his wife near Washington, D.C.

Customer Reviews

A great read, on a subject not often written about!
I seriously recommend that you buy this book. It is well written, and reads like a fictional crime caper that would be impossible to believe if we didn't know it was true. It is easy to get into, a fantastic page turner, full of all sorts of weird and wonderful characters. Although centered around The Scream and its theft, it really does succeed at educating you in the goings on in the art crime world. Some of the tales are just bizzare, and to be honest, nothing is what it seems. The central art cop is almost too good to be true, and the goings on are both hilarious and mind boggling. Really, not to be missed, non fiction that reads better than your best ever crime novel. You just wont beleive what you are reading...if it wasnt so fruitless I might go steal some paintings myself, it seems to be that easy....all you need is a ladder and....well thats it....enjoy!!

A lot of froth and not much substance
If you suffer from insomnia,buy this book!Supposedly on the theft of The Scream,but in reality a load of padded waffle centering around the life of an Art Squad police officer.That's probably because there isn't much of a story to tell.Still don't know who stole it,as I gave up half way through the book!

Excellent and compelling read
I stumbled on this book purely by chance, having little previous interest in art or art crime. However, the author does a good job of weaving a compelling tale both around the theft of Munch's masterpeice and painting a broader background of the art crime and art detection worlds. I was also left amazed at the incompetence of criminals that is only matched by the occasional incompetence of their pursuers.

If I had only one criticism, it's that the author became a little prolix in his extended character sketches of the main protagonists - it felt at times that he was trying to fill the pages. But apart from this, it made a compelling read. I don't think I'll look at a casually abandoned ladder the same way again!