The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft [Hardcover]

Ulrich Boser (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 24, 2009

“Boser cracks the cold case of the art world’s greatest unsolved mystery.”
—Vanity Fair

 

“The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft,” The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser is a fascinating account of a brazen and amazing criminal act—a book that could help police and investigators solve the mystery of the 1990 break-in and burglary at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “A tantalizing whodunit” (Boston Globe) and a “riveting, wonderfully vivid account [that] takes you into the underworld of obsessed art detectives, con men, and thieves” (Jonathan Harr, author of The Lost Painting), The Gardner Heist is true crime history at its most spellbinding.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, thieves posing as cops entered Bostons Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and left with a haul unrivaled in the art world, including three Rembrandts and a Vermeer, valued today at $600 million. Boser, a contributing editor at U.S. News and World Report, turned amateur sleuth after the death of a legendary independent fine arts claims adjuster, Harold Smith, who was haunted by the Gardner robbery. Boser carried on Smiths work, pursuing leads as varied as James Whitey Bulgers Boston mob and the IRA. Along the way, he visited felons—including the notorious art thief Myles Connor—and Bob Wittman, the FBIs only art theft undercover agent. Bosers rousing account of his years spent collecting clues large and small is entertaining enough to make readers almost forget that, after 18 years, the paintings have still not been found: the museum is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to their return. Photos. (Mar.)
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Review

“Boser has produced a captivating portrait of the world’s biggest unsolved art theft.” (Wall Street Journal )

“A vivid portrait of the high-stakes world of art crime.” (Associated Press )

“Ulrich Boser presents his solution to the [Gardner] mystery.” (Washington Post )

“Boser cracks the cold case of the art world’s greatest unsolved mystery.” (Vanity Fair )

“In The Gardner Heist, author Ulrich Boser offers a tantalizing whodunit as he embarks on an exhaustive search for the stolen masterpieces.” (Boston Globe )

“The book is a thrill.” (The Guardian )

“Now we read this. It looks like the largest theft since the Devil Rays took what should have been the Red Sox’s 2008 American League championship. I don’t know if those paintings ended up on eBay, but I do know they’re not onmy walls.” (Senator John Kerry )

“Boser’s rousing account of his years spent collecting clues large and smallis entertaining enough to make readers almost forget that, after 18 years,the paintings have still not been found.” (Publishers Weekly )

“Boser poetically contrasts the burning, almost unnatural desire art loversfeel for paintings with the cold reality that art theft is one of the easiestand most lucrative types of crime.” (Kirkus Reviews )

“Artfully done... Grade: A Minus.” (Boston Herald )

“Boser’s book on it has the feel of a speedy ride down a mountain road spiked with hairpin turns. (Christian Science Monitor )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian; 1 edition (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061451835
• ISBN-13: 978-0061451836
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Museum Studies & Museology

More About the Author

I write about social issues and am a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan think tank.

Prior to the Center, I was a contributing editor for U.S. News & World Report, special projects director for The Washington Post Express, and research coordinator for Education Week. My work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and many other publications.

In February 2009, HarperCollins published my criminal justice book The Gardner Heist, which examines the largest art heist in history, the 1990 theft of a dozen masterpieces from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The book tells the story behind the caper and highlights the growing problem of art crime, an estimated $6 billion black market, with more than 50,000 heists occurring worldwide each year.

The book received glowing reviews in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. "Captivating," said the Wall Street Journal. "Vivid," noted the Associated Press. "Boser has done a public service in exposing the real world of art theft: It isn't about glamour and culture -- it's about greed, violence and irreparable, maddening loss," wrote USA Today. The book spent almost six months on the Boston Globe best-seller list and became a national best-seller.

I'm currently working on a book about trust, and I can be reached at ulrich @ ulrichboser.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping February 25, 2009

By John David Mcdowell

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's hard to put this book down. Through a bit of serendipity, Ulrich Boser inherited a famed art detective's files on the Gardner Heist. He plunged into this mysterious case, and brings us along for the ride as he explores not only what happened, but why the artwork meant so much to so many both before and after the heist. As the author treads ever closer to cracking the case, you remember that this isn't fiction and start to believe he might get the paintings back - but you also wonder if he might find trouble in this shady underworld. A fascinating read.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Where, oh, where are those masterpieces? March 29, 2009

By K. M. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Ulrich Boser's The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft combines several fascinating stories. It re-tells, virtually minute by minute, what is known of how this infamous 1990 art theft was staged. It relates a brief history of the museum's namesake, founder and benefactor, Isabella Gardner. It discusses the paintings that were ripped from the walls and their frames, including Vermeer's The Concert, Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and Manet's Chez Tortoni (the photo section provides pictures of them). It examines the security in the museum then and now. It introduces us, through interviews with Boser, to Harold Smith, the most successful art detective of his day. It kicks around the leads and theories that the FBI, police, and private investigators have followed up in the years since the heist. It looks into the lives of some of the men who've been suspected of and investigated for the actual robbery and others who might have the paintings now. The suspects include several vicious members of the underworld, one of whom is currently serving forty years in prison for an unrelated crime, and another who has blotted the FBI's Most Wanted list for years.

The author explains how, after Smith's death (due to illness, not foul play), he, Boser, got caught up in trying to solve the mystery of the paintings and how they might be recovered. Smith had been devoting huge amounts of time to the case; his was a mission bordering on obsession. And he wasn't alone in the hunt. A five million dollar reward lured some, but for others the love of art kept them searching. Boser also caught the Gardner fever, even traveling to another country to scan little seaside villages, hoping to catch sight of the mob boss who might be living there incognito -- perhaps even with the paintings in his home. Eventually Boser realized this quest could get him killed. But before he stopped hunting down every lead, he'd gathered enough evidence to convincingly identify the probable thieves, and he presents it all in The Gardner Heist with journalistic factualism married to an accessible, conversational style.

The story of these missing masterpieces, quite possibly moldering away and perhaps even abandoned somewhere, is sad. But even though Boser's book can't have a storybook, feel-good, ending, anyone interested in the world of art (and crime) shouldn't miss The Gardner Heist.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I Don't Understand The Bad Reviews June 19, 2009

By P. Kalafarski

Format:Hardcover

This is a very good, well researched book about the story behind this theft. I don't live far from Boston and have visited the museum twice, once before the theft and once afterward. Everything you'd want to know about this topic is here - a brief history of Isabella Stewart Gardner, discussions about the background of each missing piece, details of the actual robbery, the on-going investigation. The crime hasn't been solved, so of course it's not going to have a happy ending and it's going to end abruptly. The only thing I didn't like was the endless speculation, and ensuing chapters dedicated to it, that the theft has ties to organized crime. But it does - it's no one's fault that the book lost my interest there. I emailed the author a question I had, and he kindly and pleasantly wrote me back shortly thereafter. For anyone interested in this genre, the book Museum of the Missing deals with stolen art, worldwide and throughout history - very good to read after you finish this.