REVIEWS FOR - STEALING MONA LISA
--Publisher's Weekly
Historical fans will welcome professional musician Morton's first novel, set in the early 20th century. Eduardo de Valfierno, the epitome of the suave criminal, has assembled a motley crew of thieves, grifters, and opportunists who sell priceless paintings to wealthy collectors. Though the greedy investors receive expert forgeries, Valfierno is adept at making them believe they possess actual masterpieces. The stakes rise when Valfierno and his colleagues--joined by American pickpocket extraordinaire Julia Conway, disgruntled Louvre employee Vicenzo Perugia, and struggling artist José Diego Santiago de la Santísima--plot to steal the Mona Lisa, known as La Joconde in France. The audacious plan, however, is undone by human nature as love, lust, jealousy, greed, and murderous revenge come into play, along with excessive rains and the worst flooding in contemporary Paris history. Morton smoothly blends fact and fiction while evocatively exploring the era's seamy underbelly.
Historical fans will welcome professional musician Morton's first novel, set in the early 20th century. Eduardo de Valfierno, the epitome of the suave criminal, has assembled a motley crew of thieves, grifters, and opportunists who sell priceless paintings to wealthy collectors. Though the greedy investors receive expert forgeries, Valfierno is adept at making them believe they possess actual masterpieces. The stakes rise when Valfierno and his colleagues--joined by American pickpocket extraordinaire Julia Conway, disgruntled Louvre employee Vicenzo Perugia, and struggling artist José Diego Santiago de la Santísima--plot to steal the Mona Lisa, known as La Joconde in France. The audacious plan, however, is undone by human nature as love, lust, jealousy, greed, and murderous revenge come into play, along with excessive rains and the worst flooding in contemporary Paris history. Morton smoothly blends fact and fiction while evocatively exploring the era's seamy underbelly.
--Library Journal
With all the careful brushstrokes required of a classic, Morton gives us a historical tale of deception and theft surrounding the actual 1911 theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. This delightful caper is told from the point of view of Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno, now on his deathbed, several years later. He shares how he and his comrades devised a plan to steal one of the most coveted paintings in the world. The marquis hadn’t planned on adding to his heist team a young pickpocket artist or the free-spirited wife of one of his clients, but as with all great cons, smooth teamwork is critical. Suspense builds steadily as we hold our breath, waiting to see if all the moving parts can make this audacious endeavor succeed. You’ll never look at museum art in quite the same way. VERDICT Great characters, a captivating tale, and vivid descriptions of old Paris make this debut a pleasurable read. Morton’s screenwriter/playwright background ensures sparkling dialog. Bring out the popcorn and settle in for excitement, thrills, and tension. Tremendous crossover appeal for historical fiction (think Susan Vreeland) and romance readers, too.
With all the careful brushstrokes required of a classic, Morton gives us a historical tale of deception and theft surrounding the actual 1911 theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. This delightful caper is told from the point of view of Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno, now on his deathbed, several years later. He shares how he and his comrades devised a plan to steal one of the most coveted paintings in the world. The marquis hadn’t planned on adding to his heist team a young pickpocket artist or the free-spirited wife of one of his clients, but as with all great cons, smooth teamwork is critical. Suspense builds steadily as we hold our breath, waiting to see if all the moving parts can make this audacious endeavor succeed. You’ll never look at museum art in quite the same way. VERDICT Great characters, a captivating tale, and vivid descriptions of old Paris make this debut a pleasurable read. Morton’s screenwriter/playwright background ensures sparkling dialog. Bring out the popcorn and settle in for excitement, thrills, and tension. Tremendous crossover appeal for historical fiction (think Susan Vreeland) and romance readers, too.
--Kirkus Reviews (Star Review)
A world-class art thief snatches a world-famous masterpiece from under the noses of its guardians in 1911 Paris.
Parisian art students believe that La Joconde (The Mona Lisa) belongs up on the wall in the Salon Carré of the Louvre. Vincenzo Peruggia believes that La Giaconda belongs in Italy where it was painted. But although he was born a marquis, Eduardo de Valfierno is a democrat at heart and believes that everyone—particularly every rich American—deserves his own Mona Lisa. So he recruits Peruggia, along with skilled pickpocket Julia Conway and a grown-up street urchin named Émile, to swipe the Leonardo masterpiece. Once the papers report it missing, he can sell half-a-dozen forged versions to wealthy industrialists whose mansions line the banks of the Hudson River. He takes a detour, though, to Rhode Island, because he can’t resist peddling one of his bogus Monas to Joshua Hart. Ever since meeting the crass industrialist in Buenos Aires, where he sold him a copy of La Ninfa Soprendida, Valfierno has been entranced by Hart’s beautiful wife Ellen. Armed with an authentic-looking da Vinci supplied by a talented painter named Diego, Eduardo sells Hart something a little less than he bargains for. But in return, Eduardo gets a little more than he bargains for, ending up back in Paris to face a series of disasters, both natural and manmade.
Like La Joconde, Carson’s debut novel is set in an elegant frame—a newspaper reporter wrests the amazing story from a dying Valfierno—that still isn’t as finely crafted as what lies inside.
Parisian art students believe that La Joconde (The Mona Lisa) belongs up on the wall in the Salon Carré of the Louvre. Vincenzo Peruggia believes that La Giaconda belongs in Italy where it was painted. But although he was born a marquis, Eduardo de Valfierno is a democrat at heart and believes that everyone—particularly every rich American—deserves his own Mona Lisa. So he recruits Peruggia, along with skilled pickpocket Julia Conway and a grown-up street urchin named Émile, to swipe the Leonardo masterpiece. Once the papers report it missing, he can sell half-a-dozen forged versions to wealthy industrialists whose mansions line the banks of the Hudson River. He takes a detour, though, to Rhode Island, because he can’t resist peddling one of his bogus Monas to Joshua Hart. Ever since meeting the crass industrialist in Buenos Aires, where he sold him a copy of La Ninfa Soprendida, Valfierno has been entranced by Hart’s beautiful wife Ellen. Armed with an authentic-looking da Vinci supplied by a talented painter named Diego, Eduardo sells Hart something a little less than he bargains for. But in return, Eduardo gets a little more than he bargains for, ending up back in Paris to face a series of disasters, both natural and manmade.
Like La Joconde, Carson’s debut novel is set in an elegant frame—a newspaper reporter wrests the amazing story from a dying Valfierno—that still isn’t as finely crafted as what lies inside.
--New York Journal of Books
So well known to all who are interested in such things are the circumstances surrounding the 1911 theft of the “Mona Lisa” from the Louvre and its recovery some three years later, that it has tantalized writers and conspiracy theorists for a century.
The facts are so sketchy and the theft and recovery so simple and straightforward that it does give rise to some pretty intricate speculation. We cannot believe that something as monumental as the theft of Da Vinci’s greatest masterpiece could possibly be pulled off by a simple Italian Nationalist janitor. Vencenzo Perruggia stole it in the mistaken belief that it rightfully belonged to Italy, not realizing that Da Vinci had presented it as a gift to Francis I when he became the French court painter.
Perruggia had worked at the Louvre and was a familiar face there. When he walked into the Salon de Carré where the painting was displayed and found it empty, he removed the painting and took it to a staircase where he relieved it of its frame, stuck it under his smock, and walked out. He saw his opportunity and he took it, simple as that.
Three years later, hoping for a reward, Perruggia came forward and the painting was returned to the Louvre. Perruggia was given a light sentence because, although mistaken about the paintings provenance, he was still considered something of an Italian hero.
Those are the known facts, but it is our nature as humans to equate magnitude with complexity of strategy and execution - in short, with genius.
So we speculate, we devise conspiracy theories, with some delightful results. In The Final Problem, a Sherlock Holmes short story filmed for the BBC and starring Jeremy Brett, the theft of the “Mona Lisa” by Professor Moriarty, and its recovery by Holmes convinces the villain that he detective must be eliminated. Fanciful? Of course.
A more serious alternative theory, which gained some traction at the time of the actual theft, is that it was masterminded by a gang of international art thieves and forgers led by the notorious Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno, an actual Argentinean conman, not a fictional master criminal. Author Carson Morton accepts this speculation in the intriguing and intricately plotted mystery novel, Stealing Mona Lisa, published on the 100th anniversary of the heist that took place on August 22.
Valfierno is a well-known dealer in fine art; that most of his merchandise is forged is less well known. Having lost his best painter/forger he lights upon a plan that will be his greatest achievement and might well justify his existence on this planet. It is the stealing of the “Mona Lisa” from its highly secured place in the Louvre, the forging of six copies and the selling of those copies to that most narcissistic sub-set of the upper classes, the private art collector.
Some of these men have private galleries in their mansions where they and they alone can sit and revel in the ownership of their collections of works by the greatest of the world’s painters. Ownership of them is not about art, it is about possession and ego. In fact, most of them know little or nothing about the art they possess, nor are they particularly interested in it as Art, which makes them prime targets for the art forger. It goes without saying that most of their collections are copies, sold to them by men like Valfierno, whose principal ”mark” in Morton’s novel is the middle aged wealthy industrialist Joshua Hart and his much younger and more charming wife, Valfierno makes the fatal mistake of falling in love with her.
“Have you ever experienced le coup de foudre, Mr. Hargreaves? Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? . . . Did you know that a man can fall under the spell of a woman and not even realize it?”
It is Ellie who proves to be Valfierno’s undoing. This is not a spoiler. Not only do we know that the plot is foiled because, well, the “Mona Lisa” still hangs in the Louvre, but Morton tells us so in the prologue in which the ageing and sick Valfierno tells his story to a young newspaper reporter.
Mr. Morton retains all the known facts and intertwines them with the shady but glamorous world of art forgery and theft, putting together a colorful band of rogues headed by Valfierno, who is as charming as he is slippery and could only be played by a middle aged José Ferrer.
The remaining members of his gang seem to be stock characters, but Mr. Morton does manage to make them lively, colorful and fun. He also manages to make the real thief, Vencenzo Perruggia, an adjunct member of the gang.
Valfierno’s usual method of operation is to hang a fake behind the original in the frame, show the original to the prospective customer, allowing him to mark the copy in back to prove its authenticity, then later having Emile, disguised as a janitor, slip the forgery from behind the original and walk out with it. Valfierno then sells the fake to the customer, authenticated by the customer’s own marking. He tells the customer that museums have copies on hand to replace paintings that get stolen so the public is not aware of the theft until the thieves are caught and the painting recovered. Everyone is happy, and Valfierno has made a pretty good living in this way.
But with the ”Mona Lisa”, the plan has to change. The theft must be widely known or the potential customers will not believe they have the real deal. At the same time, the forgeries have to be so precise that even the greatest experts would not be able to tell they were fakes. The fiery Spanish born painter who forges the copies of the “Mona Lisa” is called Señor Diego, but this nonfiction character will be known eventually by another more famous name, a name that not coincidentally, has been linked to art forgeries.
That is the set-up, and it plays out like a well-crafted mystery film. Mr. Morton is a screenwriter, and it shows, not only in the plotting and character development, but in the startlingly detailed and accurately rendered visuals or the Parisian cityscape. The visual writing is one of the novel’s greatest strengths as seen in the following paragraph that describes a marketplace in Paris.
“They were immediately immersed in a bustling hive of activity where every possible stratum of society was on display; ladies dressed in the latest style modern, laden with hatboxes, gentlemen trapped in uniform dark suite showing off their individuality with an endless variety of elaborately sculpted mustaches and beards; young women in coiffes bretonnes, their arms full of dresses, food baskets, or bouquets of flowers, hurrying off to deliver their loads to their household employers; old men sitting beneath striped awnings in front of cafes, solving the problems of the day in a haze of pipe smoke; old women in drab grey, loose fitting clothing, peeling potatoes and selling vegetables from under wide umbrellas.”
The planned theft and the selling of the forgeries to the greedy upper class marks goes off without a hitch, but of course, we know it cannot succeed. The delight one takes from the narrative is the unfolding of the plot, the richness of the mise-en-scéne and the charm of the characters.
Two notable events took place at about the same time period, the stealing of the “Mona Lisa” and a major flood in Paris due to heavy rains and the River Seine overflowing its banks. Mr. Morton takes advantage of the flood to stage a tense, and immensely satisfying climax.
One might quibble about the novel’s ending being a bit contrived, a bit Hollywood, but that’s a small thing in an otherwise well-crafted, beautifully written, and engaging mystery. The pacing is superb, making us hope, in spite of all we know, that the Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno and his charming gang of art thieves actually do manage to pull it off.
Carson Morton is, quite frankly, a masterful storyteller.
--Jeremy McGuire
So well known to all who are interested in such things are the circumstances surrounding the 1911 theft of the “Mona Lisa” from the Louvre and its recovery some three years later, that it has tantalized writers and conspiracy theorists for a century.
The facts are so sketchy and the theft and recovery so simple and straightforward that it does give rise to some pretty intricate speculation. We cannot believe that something as monumental as the theft of Da Vinci’s greatest masterpiece could possibly be pulled off by a simple Italian Nationalist janitor. Vencenzo Perruggia stole it in the mistaken belief that it rightfully belonged to Italy, not realizing that Da Vinci had presented it as a gift to Francis I when he became the French court painter.
Perruggia had worked at the Louvre and was a familiar face there. When he walked into the Salon de Carré where the painting was displayed and found it empty, he removed the painting and took it to a staircase where he relieved it of its frame, stuck it under his smock, and walked out. He saw his opportunity and he took it, simple as that.
Three years later, hoping for a reward, Perruggia came forward and the painting was returned to the Louvre. Perruggia was given a light sentence because, although mistaken about the paintings provenance, he was still considered something of an Italian hero.
Those are the known facts, but it is our nature as humans to equate magnitude with complexity of strategy and execution - in short, with genius.
So we speculate, we devise conspiracy theories, with some delightful results. In The Final Problem, a Sherlock Holmes short story filmed for the BBC and starring Jeremy Brett, the theft of the “Mona Lisa” by Professor Moriarty, and its recovery by Holmes convinces the villain that he detective must be eliminated. Fanciful? Of course.
A more serious alternative theory, which gained some traction at the time of the actual theft, is that it was masterminded by a gang of international art thieves and forgers led by the notorious Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno, an actual Argentinean conman, not a fictional master criminal. Author Carson Morton accepts this speculation in the intriguing and intricately plotted mystery novel, Stealing Mona Lisa, published on the 100th anniversary of the heist that took place on August 22.
Valfierno is a well-known dealer in fine art; that most of his merchandise is forged is less well known. Having lost his best painter/forger he lights upon a plan that will be his greatest achievement and might well justify his existence on this planet. It is the stealing of the “Mona Lisa” from its highly secured place in the Louvre, the forging of six copies and the selling of those copies to that most narcissistic sub-set of the upper classes, the private art collector.
Some of these men have private galleries in their mansions where they and they alone can sit and revel in the ownership of their collections of works by the greatest of the world’s painters. Ownership of them is not about art, it is about possession and ego. In fact, most of them know little or nothing about the art they possess, nor are they particularly interested in it as Art, which makes them prime targets for the art forger. It goes without saying that most of their collections are copies, sold to them by men like Valfierno, whose principal ”mark” in Morton’s novel is the middle aged wealthy industrialist Joshua Hart and his much younger and more charming wife, Valfierno makes the fatal mistake of falling in love with her.
“Have you ever experienced le coup de foudre, Mr. Hargreaves? Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? . . . Did you know that a man can fall under the spell of a woman and not even realize it?”
It is Ellie who proves to be Valfierno’s undoing. This is not a spoiler. Not only do we know that the plot is foiled because, well, the “Mona Lisa” still hangs in the Louvre, but Morton tells us so in the prologue in which the ageing and sick Valfierno tells his story to a young newspaper reporter.
Mr. Morton retains all the known facts and intertwines them with the shady but glamorous world of art forgery and theft, putting together a colorful band of rogues headed by Valfierno, who is as charming as he is slippery and could only be played by a middle aged José Ferrer.
The remaining members of his gang seem to be stock characters, but Mr. Morton does manage to make them lively, colorful and fun. He also manages to make the real thief, Vencenzo Perruggia, an adjunct member of the gang.
Valfierno’s usual method of operation is to hang a fake behind the original in the frame, show the original to the prospective customer, allowing him to mark the copy in back to prove its authenticity, then later having Emile, disguised as a janitor, slip the forgery from behind the original and walk out with it. Valfierno then sells the fake to the customer, authenticated by the customer’s own marking. He tells the customer that museums have copies on hand to replace paintings that get stolen so the public is not aware of the theft until the thieves are caught and the painting recovered. Everyone is happy, and Valfierno has made a pretty good living in this way.
But with the ”Mona Lisa”, the plan has to change. The theft must be widely known or the potential customers will not believe they have the real deal. At the same time, the forgeries have to be so precise that even the greatest experts would not be able to tell they were fakes. The fiery Spanish born painter who forges the copies of the “Mona Lisa” is called Señor Diego, but this nonfiction character will be known eventually by another more famous name, a name that not coincidentally, has been linked to art forgeries.
That is the set-up, and it plays out like a well-crafted mystery film. Mr. Morton is a screenwriter, and it shows, not only in the plotting and character development, but in the startlingly detailed and accurately rendered visuals or the Parisian cityscape. The visual writing is one of the novel’s greatest strengths as seen in the following paragraph that describes a marketplace in Paris.
“They were immediately immersed in a bustling hive of activity where every possible stratum of society was on display; ladies dressed in the latest style modern, laden with hatboxes, gentlemen trapped in uniform dark suite showing off their individuality with an endless variety of elaborately sculpted mustaches and beards; young women in coiffes bretonnes, their arms full of dresses, food baskets, or bouquets of flowers, hurrying off to deliver their loads to their household employers; old men sitting beneath striped awnings in front of cafes, solving the problems of the day in a haze of pipe smoke; old women in drab grey, loose fitting clothing, peeling potatoes and selling vegetables from under wide umbrellas.”
The planned theft and the selling of the forgeries to the greedy upper class marks goes off without a hitch, but of course, we know it cannot succeed. The delight one takes from the narrative is the unfolding of the plot, the richness of the mise-en-scéne and the charm of the characters.
Two notable events took place at about the same time period, the stealing of the “Mona Lisa” and a major flood in Paris due to heavy rains and the River Seine overflowing its banks. Mr. Morton takes advantage of the flood to stage a tense, and immensely satisfying climax.
One might quibble about the novel’s ending being a bit contrived, a bit Hollywood, but that’s a small thing in an otherwise well-crafted, beautifully written, and engaging mystery. The pacing is superb, making us hope, in spite of all we know, that the Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno and his charming gang of art thieves actually do manage to pull it off.
Carson Morton is, quite frankly, a masterful storyteller.
--Jeremy McGuire
Bookgasm
In 1911, the famous painting that we know as Mona Lisa was stolen right off the wall of the Musée du Louvre. It was daringly appropriated by one Vincenzo Peruggia, who intended to return it to the land of its creation, Italy. He held onto the painting for almost two years, but was arrested when he tried to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Now, Carson Morton presents a highly fictionalized, but accurate in certain particulars account of this amazing, picaresque adventure in STEALING MONA LISA. The premise is that one Eduardo de Valfierno presents a confession on his deathbed to a reporter, and he tells the tale in flashback.
Valfierno is a con man, selling forgeries of the great masters’ works to unscrupulous collectors. They believe the pieces have been stolen from the museums, which, being anxious to avoid controversy, have replaced the stolen paintings with copies.
Valfierno’s capers with his engaging team of loyal first mate, Emile, and the flirtatious pickpocket, Julia, are charmingly described. Eventually, they hook up with a master forger, whose identity I will not reveal, but who was involved in the actual case, and their fortunes increase. This forger manages to produce six almost exact copies of the Mona Lisa, and Valfierno’s plan is to steal the original, then sell the copies to six different collectors. The theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting is well done, and mimics the actual theft fairly closely.
Morton’s powers of description, in both the time frame and setting, really bring you to the center of Paris and make you believe in the events. His skill with dialogue is impeccable, reflecting the gentlemanly (and con man-ly reserve of Valfierno), and contrasting it with the impetuosity of the thief Julia. Overall, this is a first-rate historical novel and a fascinating crime story. If the theft of Mona Lisa didn’t actually happen this way, one kind of wishes that it had.
--Mark Rose
In 1911, the famous painting that we know as Mona Lisa was stolen right off the wall of the Musée du Louvre. It was daringly appropriated by one Vincenzo Peruggia, who intended to return it to the land of its creation, Italy. He held onto the painting for almost two years, but was arrested when he tried to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Now, Carson Morton presents a highly fictionalized, but accurate in certain particulars account of this amazing, picaresque adventure in STEALING MONA LISA. The premise is that one Eduardo de Valfierno presents a confession on his deathbed to a reporter, and he tells the tale in flashback.
Valfierno is a con man, selling forgeries of the great masters’ works to unscrupulous collectors. They believe the pieces have been stolen from the museums, which, being anxious to avoid controversy, have replaced the stolen paintings with copies.
Valfierno’s capers with his engaging team of loyal first mate, Emile, and the flirtatious pickpocket, Julia, are charmingly described. Eventually, they hook up with a master forger, whose identity I will not reveal, but who was involved in the actual case, and their fortunes increase. This forger manages to produce six almost exact copies of the Mona Lisa, and Valfierno’s plan is to steal the original, then sell the copies to six different collectors. The theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting is well done, and mimics the actual theft fairly closely.
Morton’s powers of description, in both the time frame and setting, really bring you to the center of Paris and make you believe in the events. His skill with dialogue is impeccable, reflecting the gentlemanly (and con man-ly reserve of Valfierno), and contrasting it with the impetuosity of the thief Julia. Overall, this is a first-rate historical novel and a fascinating crime story. If the theft of Mona Lisa didn’t actually happen this way, one kind of wishes that it had.
--Mark Rose
Shelf-Awareness
Carson Morton's first novel employs a delightfully murky moral standpoint. The protagonist is Eduardo, the Marquis de Valfierno, who heads up a gang of clever con men in Argentina in the early 1900s. Taking advantage of the shameful lack of security in the National Museum, Valfierno has concocted a brilliantly simple plot to swindle American businessmen. He offers to sell them paintings stolen from the museum, but delivers masterful forgeries instead. Not the noblest line of work, but once we meet the newest client, railroad tycoon Joshua Hart, it's clear that swindling is exactly what he deserves.
When a change of circumstances, and perhaps a lingering affection for Hart's beautiful young wife, land Valfierno in Paris, he plans his most ambitious project yet: the theft of the Mona Lisa. With Hart and the French police pursuing him, the action culminates in a chase through the streets of Paris, as the waters of the Seine spill over their banks and flood the city.
Morton bases his work on a myth surrounding the actual theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911. Many years after the painting was recovered, an article appeared in the Saturday Evening Post describing the author's meeting with a man named de Valfierno, who claimed to have commissioned the theft in order to pass off several forgeries as the real thing. Despite being completely unsubstantiated, the story has persisted throughout the years and, in Morton's capable hands, has been crafted into an engaging and atmospheric novel. With richly drawn characters and careful pacing, Stealing Mona Lisa is a work of art in its own right.
--Judie Evans
Discover: An enthralling historical mystery in the flooded streets of Belle Époque Paris
Carson Morton's first novel employs a delightfully murky moral standpoint. The protagonist is Eduardo, the Marquis de Valfierno, who heads up a gang of clever con men in Argentina in the early 1900s. Taking advantage of the shameful lack of security in the National Museum, Valfierno has concocted a brilliantly simple plot to swindle American businessmen. He offers to sell them paintings stolen from the museum, but delivers masterful forgeries instead. Not the noblest line of work, but once we meet the newest client, railroad tycoon Joshua Hart, it's clear that swindling is exactly what he deserves.
When a change of circumstances, and perhaps a lingering affection for Hart's beautiful young wife, land Valfierno in Paris, he plans his most ambitious project yet: the theft of the Mona Lisa. With Hart and the French police pursuing him, the action culminates in a chase through the streets of Paris, as the waters of the Seine spill over their banks and flood the city.
Morton bases his work on a myth surrounding the actual theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911. Many years after the painting was recovered, an article appeared in the Saturday Evening Post describing the author's meeting with a man named de Valfierno, who claimed to have commissioned the theft in order to pass off several forgeries as the real thing. Despite being completely unsubstantiated, the story has persisted throughout the years and, in Morton's capable hands, has been crafted into an engaging and atmospheric novel. With richly drawn characters and careful pacing, Stealing Mona Lisa is a work of art in its own right.
--Judie Evans
Discover: An enthralling historical mystery in the flooded streets of Belle Époque Paris
Gumshoe Review
Carson Morton's Stealing Mona Lisa is one of the most enjoyable, delightful
mysteries I've read in a long time. It has the perfect balance of adventure,
suspense, romance, and humor. Appropriate reading for all teenagers and adults,
it has very little violence and cursing. Stealing Mona Lisa is based on the
actual theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. (In fact, this novel was
published on its 100th anniversary.) Some of the novel's characters existed in
real life while others have been created by the author’s imagination. The true
identity of one character, when revealed towards the end, will come as a
wonderful surprise. In fact, the ending is a rather happy one that will please
everyone.
The novel begins in Paris, 1925. A reporter from the London Daily Express,
Roger Hargreaves, has come to interview the dying Valfierno who claims he knows
the truth concerning the theft of the Mona Lisa. Serving as the narrator,
Valfierno transports the reader back to Buenos Aires, 1910, where he is planning
to sell a forgery of La Ninfa Sorprendida to American billionaire Joshua Hart.
Romance first blossoms when he espies Hart's lonely trophy wife, Ellen.
Valfierno secretly longs to own this beautiful treasure. Later, he encounters a
lovely American pickpocket, Julia Conway. Her ability to distract guards and
steal their keys makes her an invaluable asset of his team. She also becomes the
love interest of Émile, Valvierno’s young protégé whom he found living as a
street urchin in Paris.
Normally, I detest and abhor thievery of any kind. When something is stolen,
everyone has to pay in the form of increased insurance rates, higher taxes and
more expensive prices in the stores. However, Eduardo Valfierno and his team are
merely swindling their wealthy clientele. They are a lovable set of characters
that stole my heart. I kept wishing them success in their endeavors. I genuinely
feared for their lives when the Seine began overflowing its banks in Paris,
which served as a spectacular setting for most of the novel's plot. With its
narrow, cobbled streets; motorcars and horse drawn carts; and quaint bakeries
and cafes, I felt as though I was actually living there.
Carson Morton's Stealing Mona Lisa is a true masterpiece of historical
mystery. While Hurricane Irene threatened my home, instead of watching the
latest news, I kept reading Stealing Mona Lisa. As the streets of Chesapeake
flooded, I was reading about the water flowing into the tunnels of Paris. I
couldn't put this novel down. With its easy flowing writing style, swiftly
moving plot, slapstick humor, and warmhearted romance, it has the ability to
mesmerize and provide great escapism, even from a hurricane. I can only hope
that the author's next novel will be as captivating. Though I doubt it will be a
sequel to Stealing Mona Lisa, perhaps it will also deal with another grand theft
of historical significance. Nevertheless, after reading Stealing Mona Lisa,
whenever I see a great work of art hanging in a museum, I will always wonder if
it is the original or a forgery.
Joseph B. Hoyos
Carson Morton's Stealing Mona Lisa is one of the most enjoyable, delightful
mysteries I've read in a long time. It has the perfect balance of adventure,
suspense, romance, and humor. Appropriate reading for all teenagers and adults,
it has very little violence and cursing. Stealing Mona Lisa is based on the
actual theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. (In fact, this novel was
published on its 100th anniversary.) Some of the novel's characters existed in
real life while others have been created by the author’s imagination. The true
identity of one character, when revealed towards the end, will come as a
wonderful surprise. In fact, the ending is a rather happy one that will please
everyone.
The novel begins in Paris, 1925. A reporter from the London Daily Express,
Roger Hargreaves, has come to interview the dying Valfierno who claims he knows
the truth concerning the theft of the Mona Lisa. Serving as the narrator,
Valfierno transports the reader back to Buenos Aires, 1910, where he is planning
to sell a forgery of La Ninfa Sorprendida to American billionaire Joshua Hart.
Romance first blossoms when he espies Hart's lonely trophy wife, Ellen.
Valfierno secretly longs to own this beautiful treasure. Later, he encounters a
lovely American pickpocket, Julia Conway. Her ability to distract guards and
steal their keys makes her an invaluable asset of his team. She also becomes the
love interest of Émile, Valvierno’s young protégé whom he found living as a
street urchin in Paris.
Normally, I detest and abhor thievery of any kind. When something is stolen,
everyone has to pay in the form of increased insurance rates, higher taxes and
more expensive prices in the stores. However, Eduardo Valfierno and his team are
merely swindling their wealthy clientele. They are a lovable set of characters
that stole my heart. I kept wishing them success in their endeavors. I genuinely
feared for their lives when the Seine began overflowing its banks in Paris,
which served as a spectacular setting for most of the novel's plot. With its
narrow, cobbled streets; motorcars and horse drawn carts; and quaint bakeries
and cafes, I felt as though I was actually living there.
Carson Morton's Stealing Mona Lisa is a true masterpiece of historical
mystery. While Hurricane Irene threatened my home, instead of watching the
latest news, I kept reading Stealing Mona Lisa. As the streets of Chesapeake
flooded, I was reading about the water flowing into the tunnels of Paris. I
couldn't put this novel down. With its easy flowing writing style, swiftly
moving plot, slapstick humor, and warmhearted romance, it has the ability to
mesmerize and provide great escapism, even from a hurricane. I can only hope
that the author's next novel will be as captivating. Though I doubt it will be a
sequel to Stealing Mona Lisa, perhaps it will also deal with another grand theft
of historical significance. Nevertheless, after reading Stealing Mona Lisa,
whenever I see a great work of art hanging in a museum, I will always wonder if
it is the original or a forgery.
Joseph B. Hoyos
The Mystery Gazette
Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno is a sophisticated thief whose polite charm enables him entrance to the wealthy while his cunning allows him to lead a team of con artists, forgers and robbers. His crew steals valuable paintings that his forgers reproduce as incredible fakes often better than the original, which Valfierno sells as the genuine masterpieces to his affluent naive customers.
In 1910 in Buenos Aires, Valfierno begins to assemble a team (American pickpocket Julia Conway, his current client’s wife Mrs. Ellen Hart, Louvre employee Vicenzo Perugia, and artist José Diego Santiago de la Santísima) to steal La Joconde (the Mona Lisa) from the Musee D’Orsay. In 1911 Valfierno and his crew are in Paris during a horrific rainy season as they begin the plan of Stealing the Mona Lisa unaware that Mr. Hart and a dedicated Police Inspector follow their activities.
This is a superb historical crime drama based on the real theft of the Mona Lisa a century ago. The story line is fast-paced with a strong cast starting with the brilliant Valfierno who understands the avaricious egomania of his clients. Even knowing the outcome, fans will relish this taut thriller as Carson Morton paints a dark degenerate look at the Gilded Age in which the affluent bought masterpieces to hang in their personal museums for their pleasure only.
Harriet Klausner
Marquis Eduardo de Valfierno is a sophisticated thief whose polite charm enables him entrance to the wealthy while his cunning allows him to lead a team of con artists, forgers and robbers. His crew steals valuable paintings that his forgers reproduce as incredible fakes often better than the original, which Valfierno sells as the genuine masterpieces to his affluent naive customers.
In 1910 in Buenos Aires, Valfierno begins to assemble a team (American pickpocket Julia Conway, his current client’s wife Mrs. Ellen Hart, Louvre employee Vicenzo Perugia, and artist José Diego Santiago de la Santísima) to steal La Joconde (the Mona Lisa) from the Musee D’Orsay. In 1911 Valfierno and his crew are in Paris during a horrific rainy season as they begin the plan of Stealing the Mona Lisa unaware that Mr. Hart and a dedicated Police Inspector follow their activities.
This is a superb historical crime drama based on the real theft of the Mona Lisa a century ago. The story line is fast-paced with a strong cast starting with the brilliant Valfierno who understands the avaricious egomania of his clients. Even knowing the outcome, fans will relish this taut thriller as Carson Morton paints a dark degenerate look at the Gilded Age in which the affluent bought masterpieces to hang in their personal museums for their pleasure only.
Harriet Klausner
Washington Independent Review of Books
Why do we love a caper tale, especially one about breaking the law? Is it that we enjoy the chance to side with the charming tricksters — ah, if only we didn’t feel constrained by laws and morality. What fun to outwit the dimwits, especially if not too many people or things are harmed. It’s all exciting good fun, wondering if the “plan” can really be pulled off.
Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton provides all the elements of a good caper. We find ourselves hoping that — aghast — the Mona Lisa, a treasure of Western civilization, will be stolen. We begin to feel some compunction about what acts we’ve cheered on when the Mona Lisa — or is it only a copy — is shoved in trunks, stuffed under shirts, left in an artist’s studio and … well, there is more, but I shouldn’t tell all. The clones of the Mona Lisa are all over the place, wreaking confusion even among the thieves. We are relieved that there were art curators back at the beginning of the 20th century who could actually tell the real painting from the forgery. Or could they?
Who are our charming tricksters? The mastermind is the Argentine Marquis de Valfierno, who is poised and polite, very clever and apparently handsome enough to attract the most beautiful of women. His prey (the Mona Lisa is merely the temporary bait) is the boorish, wealthy Joshua Hart, a nouveau riche American industrialist who wants to buy stolen masterpieces and hide them away in an underground museum in his “castle” in Newport, Rhode Island. We are happy to see him cheated of his purpose and tricked into paying exorbitant sums for forgeries he thinks are real, especially when we realize he cruelly ignores his beautiful, caring wife, whom he has collected with the same avarice as his other possessions.
The story is at its best when Valfierno and Hart are pitted against each other. The minions who carry out the nitty-gritty details don’t have the verve of the central characters. Julia never quite lives up to the clever way she pickpockets her way into the scheme. It’s not very convincing that she would waste her charms on the cold fish Enrico and shrug off the fiery artist who seems to be a young Picasso, and never show interest in Valfierno. Her banter is a bit too modern in a tale that takes care, sometimes a bit pedantically, to depict Paris as it was in 1911. Vincenzo Peruggia, the rather misguided Italian who wants to return the Mona Lisa to Italy, on the other hand, is rather believable. And, indeed, he is one of the characters who did exist historically and was imprisoned in Italy in 1913 for stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, where he had worked as a cleaner.
Does Morton’s conflating of the actual flood of Paris in 1910 with the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 work? Well, the flood is definitely a deus ex machina, but after Hurricane Katrina, midwestern tornedos and Japanese tsunami, we can’t ignore that natural events do occur that completely overturn the best laid of plans.
One other important aspect of the successful caper tale is the wink at the end. Even the meticulous Conan Doyle allows Holmes his private secret once the mystery seems to others to be solved. Thanks to Morton for the wink he gives us at the end of this caper. We want to clap our hands and laugh. If you are looking for a fun read to round out your summer at the beach, coming all too soon to an end, I can recommend Morton’s fictional reconstruction of actual and reported characters and events surrounding the theft and disappearance of the Mona Lisa from 1911-13.
Deborah Vink
Why do we love a caper tale, especially one about breaking the law? Is it that we enjoy the chance to side with the charming tricksters — ah, if only we didn’t feel constrained by laws and morality. What fun to outwit the dimwits, especially if not too many people or things are harmed. It’s all exciting good fun, wondering if the “plan” can really be pulled off.
Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton provides all the elements of a good caper. We find ourselves hoping that — aghast — the Mona Lisa, a treasure of Western civilization, will be stolen. We begin to feel some compunction about what acts we’ve cheered on when the Mona Lisa — or is it only a copy — is shoved in trunks, stuffed under shirts, left in an artist’s studio and … well, there is more, but I shouldn’t tell all. The clones of the Mona Lisa are all over the place, wreaking confusion even among the thieves. We are relieved that there were art curators back at the beginning of the 20th century who could actually tell the real painting from the forgery. Or could they?
Who are our charming tricksters? The mastermind is the Argentine Marquis de Valfierno, who is poised and polite, very clever and apparently handsome enough to attract the most beautiful of women. His prey (the Mona Lisa is merely the temporary bait) is the boorish, wealthy Joshua Hart, a nouveau riche American industrialist who wants to buy stolen masterpieces and hide them away in an underground museum in his “castle” in Newport, Rhode Island. We are happy to see him cheated of his purpose and tricked into paying exorbitant sums for forgeries he thinks are real, especially when we realize he cruelly ignores his beautiful, caring wife, whom he has collected with the same avarice as his other possessions.
The story is at its best when Valfierno and Hart are pitted against each other. The minions who carry out the nitty-gritty details don’t have the verve of the central characters. Julia never quite lives up to the clever way she pickpockets her way into the scheme. It’s not very convincing that she would waste her charms on the cold fish Enrico and shrug off the fiery artist who seems to be a young Picasso, and never show interest in Valfierno. Her banter is a bit too modern in a tale that takes care, sometimes a bit pedantically, to depict Paris as it was in 1911. Vincenzo Peruggia, the rather misguided Italian who wants to return the Mona Lisa to Italy, on the other hand, is rather believable. And, indeed, he is one of the characters who did exist historically and was imprisoned in Italy in 1913 for stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, where he had worked as a cleaner.
Does Morton’s conflating of the actual flood of Paris in 1910 with the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 work? Well, the flood is definitely a deus ex machina, but after Hurricane Katrina, midwestern tornedos and Japanese tsunami, we can’t ignore that natural events do occur that completely overturn the best laid of plans.
One other important aspect of the successful caper tale is the wink at the end. Even the meticulous Conan Doyle allows Holmes his private secret once the mystery seems to others to be solved. Thanks to Morton for the wink he gives us at the end of this caper. We want to clap our hands and laugh. If you are looking for a fun read to round out your summer at the beach, coming all too soon to an end, I can recommend Morton’s fictional reconstruction of actual and reported characters and events surrounding the theft and disappearance of the Mona Lisa from 1911-13.
Deborah Vink
Chapter16.org (Nashville Scene)
Stealing Mona Lisa By Carson Morton Minotaur Books 304 pages $24.99 Buy this book online. It is called the Valfierno myth. A 1932 Saturday Evening Post article told the story of a man who called himself the Marques Eduardo de Valfierno and who claimed to have masterminded the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa. Valfierno described himself as a brilliant con man who had arranged the theft so he could sell forgeries of da Vinci’s masterpiece to various rich industrialists, each of whom would believe he had acquired the real painting. There is no independent verification for this intriguing tale, but it has inspired more than one writer of fiction. The latest is Nashvillian Carson Morton, who offers his interpretation of the legend in a fine first novel, Stealing Mona Lisa.
Morton’s Marquis de Valfierno (using the French spelling of his title) is the archetypal confidence man—suave, sophisticated, and driven as much by love of art as by greed. He is a scoundrel for whom the reader can root without guilt. Morton, a London-born musician, screenwriter, and playwright, has conjured an equally affable group of supporting rogues to accompany the master grifter on his greatest con: a beautiful American pickpocket, an emotionally wounded Parisian street tough, a gruff but loving landlady, and a genius artist named Diego. Discovering the talents and secrets of the conspirators is half the fun of this excellent debut. Morton has peppered his story with enough real people to make his effort at speculative history both plausible and enjoyable. And the true villain of the piece is Valfierno’s intended victim, Joshua Hart, a robber baron so despicable that being swindled out of a huge sum of money seems a wholly inadequate punishment.
There is a seed of truth in Morton’s story: the Mona Lisa really was stolen from its perch in the Louvre in 1911. It disappeared for two years, held by an Italian named Peruggia, who later admitted to walking out of the museum with the painting under his coat. Italian nationalism was his stated motive –he erroneously believed the famed work had been stolen from his native land by Napoleon—but he ended up getting nothing more than a prison sentence for his trouble. Peruggia is also integral to the plot of Stealing Mona Lisa, assisted, in a clever twist of fiction, by two squabbling accomplices.
In Morton’s novel, Valfierno’s plan is, on its face, simple. Steal the painting, keep it hidden but safe, and sell exact copies to rich men who believe they are entitled to possess whatever their money can buy, secreted away where only they can enjoy it. The Marquis has cultivated his victims by selling them other forgeries he has passed off as originals, explaining to each of them, as he does to Hart, that the real forgeries are the paintings on display: “Señor, every museum worth its salt has copies of its most important works ready to put up at a moment’s notice.” Such lies will not work with the Mona Lisa, however. The painting, even in 1911, is too famous to be merely replaced without notice. Valfierno must really steal it, with the resulting headlines providing “evidence” that the copies he is peddling must be the genuine article. As with all good heist stories, Morton has asked himself, “What could possibly go wrong?” then proceeded to answer the question with a series of mishaps and double crosses that leave the conspirators constantly on the edge of disaster.
Great art has always inspired wonder and contemplation, and the Mona Lisa, as the world’s most famous painting, is one of the greatest muses in history. A seemingly simple work, it is as full of mystery as any novel: “Is that a smile, the picture of contentment,” Morton’s artist Diego asks of da Vinci’s lady, “or are her lips tightly pursed, keeping some profound secret that has endowed her with scandalous or even dangerous knowledge that no one else possesses?” That wonderful smile hovers over all of Stealing Mona Lisa.
Morton has seemingly written his own review and hidden it within his first novel like the secret signature of a painter: when talking with an artist friend, Valfierno observes, “Inspiration is just another word for heart, and you always find a way to put your heart into all your work.” Here’s hoping Carson Morton will continue to put his own heart into the art of fiction.
Chris Scott
Stealing Mona Lisa By Carson Morton Minotaur Books 304 pages $24.99 Buy this book online. It is called the Valfierno myth. A 1932 Saturday Evening Post article told the story of a man who called himself the Marques Eduardo de Valfierno and who claimed to have masterminded the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa. Valfierno described himself as a brilliant con man who had arranged the theft so he could sell forgeries of da Vinci’s masterpiece to various rich industrialists, each of whom would believe he had acquired the real painting. There is no independent verification for this intriguing tale, but it has inspired more than one writer of fiction. The latest is Nashvillian Carson Morton, who offers his interpretation of the legend in a fine first novel, Stealing Mona Lisa.
Morton’s Marquis de Valfierno (using the French spelling of his title) is the archetypal confidence man—suave, sophisticated, and driven as much by love of art as by greed. He is a scoundrel for whom the reader can root without guilt. Morton, a London-born musician, screenwriter, and playwright, has conjured an equally affable group of supporting rogues to accompany the master grifter on his greatest con: a beautiful American pickpocket, an emotionally wounded Parisian street tough, a gruff but loving landlady, and a genius artist named Diego. Discovering the talents and secrets of the conspirators is half the fun of this excellent debut. Morton has peppered his story with enough real people to make his effort at speculative history both plausible and enjoyable. And the true villain of the piece is Valfierno’s intended victim, Joshua Hart, a robber baron so despicable that being swindled out of a huge sum of money seems a wholly inadequate punishment.
There is a seed of truth in Morton’s story: the Mona Lisa really was stolen from its perch in the Louvre in 1911. It disappeared for two years, held by an Italian named Peruggia, who later admitted to walking out of the museum with the painting under his coat. Italian nationalism was his stated motive –he erroneously believed the famed work had been stolen from his native land by Napoleon—but he ended up getting nothing more than a prison sentence for his trouble. Peruggia is also integral to the plot of Stealing Mona Lisa, assisted, in a clever twist of fiction, by two squabbling accomplices.
In Morton’s novel, Valfierno’s plan is, on its face, simple. Steal the painting, keep it hidden but safe, and sell exact copies to rich men who believe they are entitled to possess whatever their money can buy, secreted away where only they can enjoy it. The Marquis has cultivated his victims by selling them other forgeries he has passed off as originals, explaining to each of them, as he does to Hart, that the real forgeries are the paintings on display: “Señor, every museum worth its salt has copies of its most important works ready to put up at a moment’s notice.” Such lies will not work with the Mona Lisa, however. The painting, even in 1911, is too famous to be merely replaced without notice. Valfierno must really steal it, with the resulting headlines providing “evidence” that the copies he is peddling must be the genuine article. As with all good heist stories, Morton has asked himself, “What could possibly go wrong?” then proceeded to answer the question with a series of mishaps and double crosses that leave the conspirators constantly on the edge of disaster.
Great art has always inspired wonder and contemplation, and the Mona Lisa, as the world’s most famous painting, is one of the greatest muses in history. A seemingly simple work, it is as full of mystery as any novel: “Is that a smile, the picture of contentment,” Morton’s artist Diego asks of da Vinci’s lady, “or are her lips tightly pursed, keeping some profound secret that has endowed her with scandalous or even dangerous knowledge that no one else possesses?” That wonderful smile hovers over all of Stealing Mona Lisa.
Morton has seemingly written his own review and hidden it within his first novel like the secret signature of a painter: when talking with an artist friend, Valfierno observes, “Inspiration is just another word for heart, and you always find a way to put your heart into all your work.” Here’s hoping Carson Morton will continue to put his own heart into the art of fiction.
Chris Scott
Richmond Times-Dispatch
What's a mystery novel without a murder at its center? In the talented hands of debut novelist Carson Morton, a work of art — quite literally.
In "Stealing Mona Lisa" (352 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), Morton takes an imaginative and energetic look at the crime — a century after the painting was stolen from the Louvre in Paris — and creates an absorbing blend of fact and fiction.
The mastermind behind the theft is Eduardo de Valfierno, who cons rich men into thinking they have purchased masterpieces for which Valfierno has substituted copies. But the art connoisseurs are really buying copies. Assisting Valfierno are Émile, whom Valfierno rescued as a street orphan; Julia, a beautiful American pickpocket; Diego, a Spanish artist; and Perugia, an Italian
who longs to return the Mona Lisa to her native country. And then there's the lovely Ellen, the unloved wife of Joshua Hart, a rich American who's one of Valfierno's customers.
As the plot unfolds, the various characters — some real, some fictional — rise and fall, Paris suffers through historic flooding and the reader is kept rapt by Morton's intricate plotting — complete with a couple of shockers — and vibrant portrait of Paris in the early 20th century. "Stealing Mona Lisa" may not embrace death, but its depiction of life on the edge will resonate with lovers of mystery, history and art.
What's a mystery novel without a murder at its center? In the talented hands of debut novelist Carson Morton, a work of art — quite literally.
In "Stealing Mona Lisa" (352 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), Morton takes an imaginative and energetic look at the crime — a century after the painting was stolen from the Louvre in Paris — and creates an absorbing blend of fact and fiction.
The mastermind behind the theft is Eduardo de Valfierno, who cons rich men into thinking they have purchased masterpieces for which Valfierno has substituted copies. But the art connoisseurs are really buying copies. Assisting Valfierno are Émile, whom Valfierno rescued as a street orphan; Julia, a beautiful American pickpocket; Diego, a Spanish artist; and Perugia, an Italian
who longs to return the Mona Lisa to her native country. And then there's the lovely Ellen, the unloved wife of Joshua Hart, a rich American who's one of Valfierno's customers.
As the plot unfolds, the various characters — some real, some fictional — rise and fall, Paris suffers through historic flooding and the reader is kept rapt by Morton's intricate plotting — complete with a couple of shockers — and vibrant portrait of Paris in the early 20th century. "Stealing Mona Lisa" may not embrace death, but its depiction of life on the edge will resonate with lovers of mystery, history and art.
crazyforwords.com
Carson Morton bases his STEALING MONA LISA on real events from the beginning of last century. He's fictionalized many of the players in the great art theft at the Louvre.
It's a fun mystery set in the early 1900s. Morton's conmen bump into an attractive pickpocket who later aids them in scams and eventually the art heist. They bounce all over Europe, North America, and South America selling "stolen" works of art.
There are mysteries swirling around the characters and their crimes, as well the art heists. This is one that you don't want to put down.
The Mona Lisa has been popping up a lot lately this week. This week's "Decoded" on the History channel was about Leonardo da Vinci and the symbolism of the Mona Lisa. I'm fascinated with the painting, its history, and the theories/mysteries that crop up from time to time.
So check out "Decoded" and Morton's mystery for a fun way to spend a winter's evening.
Carson Morton bases his STEALING MONA LISA on real events from the beginning of last century. He's fictionalized many of the players in the great art theft at the Louvre.
It's a fun mystery set in the early 1900s. Morton's conmen bump into an attractive pickpocket who later aids them in scams and eventually the art heist. They bounce all over Europe, North America, and South America selling "stolen" works of art.
There are mysteries swirling around the characters and their crimes, as well the art heists. This is one that you don't want to put down.
The Mona Lisa has been popping up a lot lately this week. This week's "Decoded" on the History channel was about Leonardo da Vinci and the symbolism of the Mona Lisa. I'm fascinated with the painting, its history, and the theories/mysteries that crop up from time to time.
So check out "Decoded" and Morton's mystery for a fun way to spend a winter's evening.
currentnightandday.com
First-time novelist Carson Morton’s book, “Stealing Mona Lisa: A Mystery,” is an
engaging mystery based on a real-life event – the theft in 1911 of the most
famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, from the Louvre in Paris. While the
painting was eventually recovered and a culprit identified, there was some
speculation as to whether more people were involved in the
theft.
Morton takes one of these theories and crafts an engrossing
crime caper involving the aristocrat Eduardo de Valfierno, a charming art thief
and con man, and his quirky accomplices. De Valfierno conceives a plan so
brilliant it seems possible he might even get away with it. With the help of an
expert forger, whose true identity proves to be just one twist in the story, de
Valfierno plans to steal the real Mona Lisa and sell six expertly-forged copies
to six rich patrons, convincing each patron he is buying the original painting.
The thieves are successful in stealing the real Mona Lisa, but an unexpected
turn of events jeopardizes the thieves’ success, resulting in an intriguing
question – which painting was returned to the Louvre, the real Mona Lisa or one
of the forgeries? -- Nina Kennedy
First-time novelist Carson Morton’s book, “Stealing Mona Lisa: A Mystery,” is an
engaging mystery based on a real-life event – the theft in 1911 of the most
famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, from the Louvre in Paris. While the
painting was eventually recovered and a culprit identified, there was some
speculation as to whether more people were involved in the
theft.
Morton takes one of these theories and crafts an engrossing
crime caper involving the aristocrat Eduardo de Valfierno, a charming art thief
and con man, and his quirky accomplices. De Valfierno conceives a plan so
brilliant it seems possible he might even get away with it. With the help of an
expert forger, whose true identity proves to be just one twist in the story, de
Valfierno plans to steal the real Mona Lisa and sell six expertly-forged copies
to six rich patrons, convincing each patron he is buying the original painting.
The thieves are successful in stealing the real Mona Lisa, but an unexpected
turn of events jeopardizes the thieves’ success, resulting in an intriguing
question – which painting was returned to the Louvre, the real Mona Lisa or one
of the forgeries? -- Nina Kennedy
Bookwinked
An image of Paris, A Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte called out to me from the cover of a 2011 book entitled Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton. Because the painting is one of my favorites; I decided to investigate the book. I am pleased to report it is an enjoyable novel.
The fictional story is based on actual events which transpired in 1911 in Paris when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. It is a suspenseful story. The tale begins with a reporter sent to interview an elderly man who, years later, claims to have knowledge of the theft. From there, we are taken back in time not to Paris as one would imagine, but to South America. The story winds its way to the City of Light where a cleverly written plot reveals how and why the Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum.
I enjoyed many things about this book. The peppering of French words in the text was just right and easy to understand. The story kept my interest all along the way and the ending with a twist surprised me. If you enjoy a good mystery, I believe you will enjoy this novel. It’s a good one!
An image of Paris, A Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte called out to me from the cover of a 2011 book entitled Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton. Because the painting is one of my favorites; I decided to investigate the book. I am pleased to report it is an enjoyable novel.
The fictional story is based on actual events which transpired in 1911 in Paris when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. It is a suspenseful story. The tale begins with a reporter sent to interview an elderly man who, years later, claims to have knowledge of the theft. From there, we are taken back in time not to Paris as one would imagine, but to South America. The story winds its way to the City of Light where a cleverly written plot reveals how and why the Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum.
I enjoyed many things about this book. The peppering of French words in the text was just right and easy to understand. The story kept my interest all along the way and the ending with a twist surprised me. If you enjoy a good mystery, I believe you will enjoy this novel. It’s a good one!
Published by Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Press August 2nd, 2011