The Art Theif

Did you know that ART CRIME is the 3rd highest grossing criminal industry worldwide, behind only drugs and the arms trade and nets between US$2-6 billion per year for criminals.

Today we are recommending a book by Noah Charney called the Art Thief. He was born in 1979 in New Haven, United States but then moved to the UK where he gained Masters degrees in 17th century Roman sculpture and 16th century florentine painting and iconography. Shortly after Noah turned his hand to writing the Art Thief his first novel.

Charney undertook a PhD in the study of Art Crime which was a field that nobody had ever studied before and discovered almost all of art crime today is perpetrated either by, or on behalf of ,international organised crime syndicates. Charney believes that for this reason, art crime funds other crimes which are easy to recognise as severe, such as the drug and arms trades and international terrorism. Through fiction, lectures as well as diverse future enterprises, Charney's primary task is to inform the public and government about the severity of art crime.

The Art Thief by Noah Charney.....

The disappearance of a priceless Caravaggio in Rome and the famous 'White on White' by Russian painter Kasimir Malevich in Paris heralds the start of a series of seemingly unconnected art crimes across Europe. Fitting the pieces together as they follow a trail of bluffs and double-bluffs, bizarre clues and intellectual puzzles, Inspector Jean-Jacques Bizot in Paris and Harry Wickenden of Scotland Yard come to realize that what at first appears a spate of random thefts is all part of a single master plan, and that they are being led ever deeper into a baffling conspiracy. This fiendishly clever debut thriller takes us behind the scenes of the elite fine art world of auction houses, academia and museums to offer a fascinating view of art history, witty, fast-paced dialogue and an ever-surprising plot that twists its way from Rome to Paris to London and back again.