The Art Thief

Hilarious! Delicious! This deftly plotted mystery is filled with art and French food and delightful heroines and heroes. (Or are they thieves?) Author Noah Charney's knowledge of the art world is extensive--he headed the first international think tank on art theft--so this romp is not only entertaining, but educational as well. Even better than the art mystery are the meals. Simon Vance uses rich accents to create a believable Gallic atmosphere as he "ooo-la-las!" his way through a series of gastronomic adventures, making listeners' mouths water at the same time that their sides ache with laughter. By the end of the book, it's hard to care where the paintings end up as long as all the characters are happy. B.H.B Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

July 30, 2007
With its flat characters, overly technical exposition and a plot implausible even in the wake of The Da Vinci Code
, art historian Charney's debut disappoints. When a priceless Caravaggio altarpiece disappears from Rome's Santa Giuliana church, the police call in renowned art historian Gabriel Coffin to investigate. Coffin detects a pattern after a rare Kasimir Malevich Suprematist painting disappears in Paris and another Malevich is stolen from London's National Gallery soon after being purchased at Christie's. As potential forgeries are uncovered and the thieves taunt those on the trail of the missing art with riddles and ransom demands, Coffin and his fellow art experts must race to recover the stolen masterpieces before they disappear forever. Despite his extensive knowledge of the art world's criminal underbelly, Charney delivers a story so bogged down with minutiae that even the most dedicated reader will get stuck.