The Gardner Heist (by Ulrich Boser)
I purchased the Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft, by Ulrich Boser through one of Audible’s 2 for 1 sales. I love art and was curious to learn about the infamous, unsolved art heist that took place in Boston in 1990. Shortly after I purchased the book, the television show, History’s Greatest Heist aired an episode dedicated to the Gardner Heist. It was a great episode and left me feeling eager to read the book. A trailer of that television show is below to generate your curiosity.
The book, The Gardner Heist, provides a foundation of knowledge about the heist, the museum, and an extensive look into the thieves. Ulrich opens the book with the details of the art heist; how the thieves entered the museum and the artwork that was stolen. The next chapter is devoted to Harold Smith, the art sleuth, who dedicated decades of his life to investigating the heist. Ulrich talked about the pieces of art that were stolen. I’m a fan of Manet, Degas, and Rembrandt so I was interested to learn more about these pieces of art. I was less familiar with Vermeer, and what I learned about this piece of art and the artist was fascinating. I especially enjoyed the portion of the book about Isabella Stewart Gardner. Her autobiographical information was quite interesting. The remaining chapters of the book focus on the heist, those who investigated the theft, and the suspects.
As Ulrich shares in his book, he became obsessed and consumed with picking up the investigation where Harold Smith left off when he died. He traveled the world and interviewed hundreds of people. He closes the book with who he believes is most likely responsible for the Gardner Heist.
If I ever find myself in the Boston area, I will make sure that a visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is part of my itinerary. The museum’s website has information about the heist that you can find here. They also have images of the stolen artwork. The reward has increased from $5 million dollars to $10 million dollars. I hope the priceless pieces of art are eventually recovered.
The television show, History’s Greatest Mysteries, also aired an episode on the Gardner Heist. This show mostly addressed the prominent suspects that have been investigated. Below is a trailer for that show to really get you interested in the heist.
I don’t want to leave my book review without acknowledging the great narration by Stephen Graybill.
Last, and definitely not least, I want to credit the original artwork in the photo with the book cover. The artist is PoeSoul Studio and his original oil painting, It’s Where I Go (To Get Lost) is available here. His website https://poesoulstudio.com contains original paintings, drawings, watercolors, and photography. Each original artwork comes with a poem written by the artist specifically for each painting.
As a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, I earn from qualifying purchases linked back to Amazon. Every penny earned allows me to blog about books and keeps this site running.
